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TUE  INTERNATIONAL  SCIENTIFIC  SERIEa 
VOLUME   XLV. 


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THE   INTERNATIONAL   SCIENTIFIC  SERIES. 


MAN  BEFOEE  METALS. 


BY 

N.    JOLY, 

PROrESSOR    AT   THE  SrTENCK   FACULTY   OF  TOTTLOCTF; 
C0ERE3P0>  DENT  OF  TME   INSTITUTE. 


WITH  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FOTtTY-EIGUT  ILLUSTRATIONS, 


NEW   YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1,  3,  AND  5  BOND  STREET. 

1804. 


5 

ANTHROPOLOGY 


Add' 


GIFT 


CONTENTS. 


PAQB 

INTRODUCTION 1 


PAET  I. 
THE   ANTIQUITY   OF    THE  HUMAN  RACE. 


CHAP. 

I.  The  Prehistoric  Ages 9 

(I.)  General  notions  of  the  structure  of  the  earth.  (II.)  The 
meaning  of  the  word  '  fossil '  as  applied  to  man  and  other 
organised  beings.  (III.)  Prehistoric  ages.  (IV.)  The 
great  antiquity  of  man  proved  by  Egyptian  monuments. 

II.  The  Work  of  Boucher  de  Perthes        .        .        .        .35 
(I.)  The  splintered  flints  of  Abbev-ille.     (II.)  Discovery  of  the 
jawbone  of  Moulin- Quignon. 

III.  The  Bone  Caves 48 

(I.)  History  of  the  question.     (II.)   Description  of  the  bone 

caves.  (III.)  Age  of  the  caverns.  (IV.)  Quaternary 
fauna;  inhabitants  of  the  bone  caves.  (V.)  Bones  of 
wamded  animals  found  in  the  caves.  (VI.)  Entire 
human  skeletons  found  in  the  caves.  Wounded  human 
bones  Fractured  skulls.  (VII.)  Proofs  furnished  by  the 
condition  of  the  bones,  and  their  chemical  composition. 

IV.  The  Peat  Mouses  and  the  Kitchen  Middens       ,        .    91 
(I.)  The  Danish  peat  mosses.     (II.)  The  peat  mosses  of  Swit- 
zerland.   Leaf-marked  coal  of  Morchweill,  of  Wetzikon, 

of  Utziiach,  and  of  Durnten.  (III.)  The  kitchen  middens 
or  shell  mounds.  "^^^  ^ 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  PAGK 

V.  The  Lake  Dwellings  and  the  Nuraghi  .  .  .  105 
(I.)  The  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland.  (II.)  Implements  of 
Stone  age  found  in  the  Swiss  lakes.  (LII.)  The  in- 
habitants of  the  lake  dwellings.  The  Swiss  epoch  of  the 
lake  dwellings.  Manners  and  customs  of  their  inhabi- 
tants. (IV.)  The  flora  of  the  Swiss  lake  dwellings. 
(V.)  Ancient  and  modern  constructions  similar  to  the 
lake  dwellings.     (VI.)  The  Nuraghi  of  Sardinia. 

VI.  Burial  Places 130 

(I.)  Various  methods  of  sepulture.  (II.)  Burial  in  caves. 
(III.)  Remarks  upon  the  burial  places  found  in  the 
caves.  (IV.)  The  dolmens.  (V.)  The  giant  tombs  of 
Sardinia. 

VII.  Prehistoric  Man  in  America 162 

(I.)  The  Chulpas  of  Peru  and  Bolivia.  (II.)  The  mounds  and 
the  mound  builders. 

VIII.  Man  op  the  Tertiary  Epoch 175 

(I.)  The  human  bones  of  the  Volcano  of  la  Denise.  The  striated 
bones  of  the  elephant  of  Saint  Prest.  The  Meiocene 
flints  of  Thenay. 

IX.  The  Great  Antiquity  op  Man 181 


PART  II. 

PRIM  I TI VE    CI  VILISA  TION. 

I.  Domestic  Life 188 

(I.)  The  origin  of  the  use  of  fire.  (II.)  Food  and  cooking. 
(III.)  Clothing.     (IV.)  Ornaments  and  jewels. 

II.  Industry 211 

(I.)  Methods  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  stone  imple- 
ments. (II.)  Religious  and  superstitious  uses  of  the 
flints.  (III.)  Weapons  of  war  and  of  the  chase.  (IV.) 
Fishing  implements.  (V.)  Tools.  (VI.)  Weaving  and 
sewing. 


CONTENTS.  vii 

CHAP.  PAOB 

III.  AaillCULTURE 252 

(I.)  Primitive  agriculture.  (II.)  The  domestication  of  animals. 
(III.)  Origin  and  home  of  our  principal  domestic  animals. 
(IV.)  Origin  of  our  cultivated  plants. 

IV.  Navigation  and  Commeece 280 

(I.)  Navigation.     (II.)  Commerce. 

V.  The  Fine  Arts 287 

(I.)  Tlie  arts  of  design  in  the  caves.  (II.)  Painting  and  music, 
(in.)  Pottery. 

VI.  Language  and  "V\^riting 312 

(I.)  The  origin  of  speech.  (II.)  Supposed  characteristics  of 
primitive  tongues.     (III.)  Origin  of  writing. 

Vn.  PxEligion 327 

(I.)  Keligious  ideas  of  primitive  man.  (II.)  Worsliip  and 
amulets.  (III.)  Cannibalism  and  human  sacri  ice.  (IV.) 
Transformation  of  human  sacrifice  into  modern  religious 
dogma. 

VIII.  The  Portrait  of  Quaternary  Maij        .        .        .        .36? 


MAN  BEFORE  METALS. 


.       INTRODUCTION. 

The  only  trustworthy  annals  of  primitive  humanity  are 
written  in  the  Book  of  Nature  ;  to  it,  therefore,  we  should 
have  recourse.  Unfortunately  many  leaves  have  disap- 
peared, or  have  been  effaced  from  this  great  book,  written 
by  the  hand  of  God,  and  those  which  remain  are  for  the 
most  part  hard  to  interpret.  Hence,  in  spite  of  the  pre- 
cept of  ancient  philosophers  {jvcodi  asavrbv),  that  which 
man  knows  least  well  is  himself.  For  in  fact  neither  his 
body,  his  affections,  nor  his  mind,  nor  the  vital  principle 
which  animates  him,  are  entirely  known  to  him;  he  is 
ignorant  of  his  origin,  his  cradle,  his  history. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  man  has  measured  the  heavens, 
and  calculated  the  weight  of  the  earth  and  the  distance 
of  the  stars.  He  has  converted  Jove,  the  Thunderer  of 
old,  into  a  mere  messenger,  who  instantaneously  trans- 
mits the  thought,  and  even  the  voice  of  man  from  one 
end  of  the  world  to  the  other.  He  is  able,  moreover,  by 
another  unlooked  for  wonder,  to  recall  the  voice  of  the 
dead.  He  has  taught  golden-haired  Phoebus  and  pale 
Diana  to  paint  their  image,  his  own,  or  that  of  anything 
he  wishes,  on  the  lens  of  a  camera-obscura,  and  has  even 
reduced  them  to  the  humble  role  of  copyists  of  our  ancient 
manuscripts.  He  has  dethroned  Neptune,  and  laughs  at 
his  terrors.     He  can  outstrip  the  bird  on  the  wing,  and 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

machines  made  by  him  can  travel  without  fatigue  ten 
times  as  fast  as  the  swiftest  horse. 

Man  has  conquered  the  elements  ;  the  winds  obey 
him  as  his  slaves,  and  soon,  perhaps,  ships  of  a  new  kind 
will  cut  their  way  through  the  regions  of  the  air  as  safely 
as  vessels  now  traverse  the  vast  extent  of  the  ocean.  Fire 
has  becoiiie  a  liquid  in  his  hands.*  The  earth,  subjected  to 
an  universal  analysis,  reveals  her  secrets  one  by  one.  In 
short  his  genius  daily  invents  wonders,  which,  surprising 
as  they  are,  now  appear  so  natural  that  the  bare  mention 
here  made  of  them  may  appear  common-place  to  the  reader. 

Man,  I  repeat,  knows  not  his  own  nature  nor  his  own 
history.  Yet  nothing  of  greater  moment  could  be  presented 
as  the  object  of  his  study,  of  his  active  curiosity,  and  of  his 
eager  desire  to  learn  the  origin  and  nature  of  things. 

\y rapped  in  a  thick  veil,  buried  in  the  remote  past, 
the  first  records  of  the  human  race  have  long  been  con- 
cealed from  the  eyes  of  seekers,  who  did  not  even  suspect 
their  existence,  or  at  any  rate  their  deep  significance.  The 
rare  concurrence  of  fortunate  circumstances,  the  wisdom, 
ingenuity,  and  courageous  perseverance  of  a  man  imbued 
at  once  with  courage  and  the  true  scientific  spirit,  have 
been  necessary  to  the  complete  interpretation  of  the  mys- 
terious language  of  these  splintered  stones,  of  these  bones 
dug  out  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth  and  given  back  to  the 
light  of  day  after  so  many  thousands  of  years,  perhaps  of 
centuries !  Archaeology,  greeted  at  first  with  ironical 
sneers  or  the  contempt  of  incredulity,  has  by  an  inevitable 
reaction  given  rise  to  extravagant  enthusiasm,  and  to  ill- 
considered  systems,  which  have  more  than  once  injured  its 
cause  and  obstructed  its  real  progress.  With  equal  disre- 
gard for  over-eager  enthusiasts  and  systematic  detractors,, 
we  must  concern  ourselves  solely  with  the  results  obtained. 
Beyond  all  question  the  most  important,  the  most  unex- 

*  Under  the  well-chosen  name  of  liquid  fire,  the  learned  and  la- 
borious Nickles  has  defined  a  substance  of  which  the  important  dis- 
covery cost  him  his  life.  May  I  be  allowed  to  lay  the  tribute  of  my 
aflt'ectionate  and  sincere  sorrow  on  the  grave,  which  closed  so  prematurely 
over  this  savant,  who  was  as  honourable  as  he  was  learned  ? 


INTEODUCTION.  3 

peeted,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  assured  of 
these  results,  is  the  establishment  of  the  great  antiquity 
of  prehistoric  man. 

The  name  itself  indicates  that  history,  as  it  has  been 
hitherto  understood  and  taught,  is  unable  to  give  us  any 
precise  information  concerning  this  antiquity. 

Neither  the  tables  of  Manetho,  nor  the  Bible  itself, 
can  help  us  here.  Many  learned  men  and  theologians 
admit  that  their  chronology  is  uncertain,  full  of  gaps,  and 
corrupted  by  copyists  and  commentators.  Sylvestre  de 
Sacy,  a  Christian  of  undoubted  orthodoxy  admitted  that 
there  was  no  Bible  chronology.  One  of  our  most  learned 
ecclesiastics  has  owned,  with  a  sincerity  which  does  him 
credit,  that  'the  chronology  of  the  Old  Testament  has 
never  been  accepted  by  the  Church.'  He  declared  it  to 
be  the  result  of  the  combination  of  certain  dates,  of  the 
interpretation  of  certain  passages,  which  concern  neither 
faith  nor  morals,  and  which  may  be  corrupt;  it  is  even 
certain  that  there  are  breaks ;  and  the  cosmogonies  of  the 
different  authorised  versions  do  not  agree  with  each  other, 
iSic.  &c.  '  Nothing  therefore,'  continues  the  learned  theo- 
logian, *  need  prevent  the  addition  of  a  greater  or  less 
number  of  years  to  the  generally  accepted  figure  touching 
the  first  appearance  of  man  on  the  earth,  if  science  were 
able  to  fix  the  date  with  certainty.  But  this  certain  result 
is  for  from  being  attained.' '  On  this  last  point  we  entirely 
agree  with  the  learned  Abbe  Duilhe  de  Saint-Projet.  But 
the  concession  which  he  makes  regarding  the  uncertainty 
of  Bible  chronology  is  in  our  eyes  far  more  important  than 
his  own,  since  it  shelters  us  from  the  reproach  of  impiety 
so  often  cast  upon  unoffending  science  by  those  who  know 
nothing  of  her  spirit  and  misconceive  her  aims.  Moreover, 
science  replies  by  facts,  and  often  by  benefits,  to  those 
conclusions,  rashly  formed  a  priori,  by  which  some  men 
attempt  to  annul  her  discoveries,  to  accusations  as  unjust 

'  See  tlie  Semninc  cathoJique  de  Touhvae,  March  28,  18G0,  and  espe- 
cially the  Mincrvc  dc  Ttudoam',  in  which  the  Conferences  of  M.  rAbbe 
Duilhe  de  Saint-Projet  are  reviewed  in  a  spirit  of  impartiality  which 
does  credit  both  to  the  able  critic  and  the  learned  theoloLdan. 


4  INTKODUCTION. 

as  they  are  malicious,  which  are  too  often  and  too  lightly 
brought  against  her.  Some  of  the  following  facts,  revealed 
by  learned  men,  confirm  in  all  essentials  the  statements 
of  the  purest  orthodoxy. 

'  No  date,'  says  the  eminent  palaeontologist,  M.  Ed. 
]  ^artet,  '  is  to  be  found  in  Genesis  which  assigns  a  time 
for  the  birth  of  primitive  humanity ;  but  chronologists 
have  for  fifteen  centuries  endeavoured  to  force  the  Bible 
facts  into  agreement  with  their  systems.  Thus,  no  less 
than  one  hundred  and  forty  different  opinions  have  been 
formed  about  the  single  date  of  the  Creation,  and  between 
the  extreme  variations  there  is  a  discrepancy  of  3,194  years 
in  the  reckoning  of  the  period  between  the  beginning  of 
the  world  and  the  birth  of  Christ.  The  chief  disagree- 
ment is  with  respect  to  the  interval  of  time  nearest  to  the 
Creation.  From  the  moment  therefore  that  it  becomes  a 
recognised  fact  that  the  question  of  human  origin  owes 
no  allegiance  to  dogma,  it  will  become,  as  it  ought  to 
become,  a  scientific  thesis  open  to  discussion,  to  be  con- 
sidered from  every  point  of  view,  and  capable  of  receiving 
that  solution  which  tallies  best  with  fact  and  with  ex- 
perimental proof.' 

Such  is  our  own  scientific  profession  of  faith  upon  this 
delicate  question.  It  would  have  been  far  better  to  move 
onward  with  Gralileo  than  to  force  an  unworthy  recantation 
from  him,  especially  as  we  have  seen  in  our  own  day  one 
of  the  most  famous  of  his  countrymen.  Father  Secchi, 
Director  of  the  Eoman  Observatory,  and  Corresponding 
Member  of  the  French  Institute,  proclaim  the  superiority 
of  the  philosophy  of  this  same  Gralileo,  once  condemned 
and  imprisoned  by  the  Inquisition.  '  Let  science  take 
her  course,'  we  repeat  with  M.  Duruy,  '  let  her  do  her 
work  ;  the  soul  is  at  the  end  of  it.'  ^ 

We  pass  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  means  by  which 
the  new  science  of  archaeology  is  enabled  to  establish,  not 

'  Ed.  Lartet,  Nouvelles  recherches  snr  la  coexistence  de  VJiomvie  ct 
■les  grands  mavnniflres  fossilat,  rcjndcs  caracti'ristiqves  de  la  derniere 
<pcri()de  geologicjue  (Annalcs  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  4*  Serie,  t.  xv.  p.  256.) 

2  V.  Duruv,  Uiscuurs  au  Scnut. 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

the  piTcise  date  of  the  appearance  of  man  on  the  earth, 
since  this  result  has  not  been  and  perliaps  will  never  be 
attained,  but  to  determine  an  approximate  date  which  is 
certainly  prior  to  that  indicated  by  any  cosmogony. 

Flints  are  foimd  scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  soil, 
or  buried  in  its  depths ;  in  the  heart  of  gloomy  caves,  or 
beneath  the  ruins  of  the  most  ancient  monuments ;  some 
rudely  shaped,  others  finely  polished  and  fashioned  into 
forms  similar  to  those  of  our  axes,  knives,  and  tools  of 
every  kind. 

These  fhnts  had  been  observed  by  the  ancients,  who 
gave  them  the  names  of  lapides  fulminis,  ceraunice 
[fevi'inw,  &c.,  and  in  later  times  they  were  called  lightning 
stones,  thunderbolts,  stones  fallen  from  heaven.  They 
were  employed  in  certain  sacred  rites  by  the  Egyptians, 
the  Eomans,  and  perhaps  also  by  the  Scandinavians,  the 
worshippers  of  Odin  and  Thor. 

Even  in  our  day,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  so  slow  is 
progress  in  any  direction,  these  stones,  said  to  be  fallen 
from  heaven,  are  the  object  of  superstitious  veneration  in 
remote  country  districts,  and  they  may  not  unfrequently 
be  found  in  the  cottages  or  cowsheds  of  peasants,  who 
firmly  believe  that  they  can  thereby  preserve  their  dwell- 
ings from  lightning,  themselves  from  witchcraft,  and 
their  cattle  from  disease. 

But  what  are  these  strange  stones,  which,  since  they 
have  attracted  the  notice  of  antiquaries,  have  been  found  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  world :  at  Paris  and  at  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  at  Toulouse  and  Christiania ;  in  the  dilu- 
vium of  the  valleys  of  the  Somme  and  of  the  Thames,  and 
in  the  ossiferous  clay  of  the  caves  of  Languedoc  and  Peri- 
gord  ;  in  the  dolmens  of  Brittany,  of  Algeria,  and  of  Pal- 
estine ;  beneath  the  ruins  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  ;  in 
the  Malay  peninsula  and  in  Japan  ;  and  even  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi? 

This  question  was  difficult  to  answer.  According  to 
some,  these  splintered  flints  were  '  freaks  of  nature,'  others 
held  that  they  were  of  volcanic  origin ;  others  again,  that 
they  were  stones  split  off  by  winter  frosts.    Some  sagacious 


6  INTEODUCTION. 

men  maintained  that  they  were  gun-flints,  and  moreover 
of  recent  fobrication. 

A  learned  antiquary  of  Abbeville,  struck  by  the  singular 
form  of  some  of  these  flints,  which  abound  in  Picardy, 
collected  a  great  number  of  them,  and  examined  and  com- 
pared them  with  anxious  and  loving  study.  '  Were  it 
only  a  question  of  pin-making,  this  is  the  price  of  success,' 
are  the  words  of  some  philosopher.  Unfortunately,  the 
heated  imagination  of  the  antiquary,  unconsciously  in- 
fluenced by  a  deceitful  illusion,  discovered  on  these  flints 
the  figures  of  men,  of  animals,  of  plants,  carved  with  a 
definite  intention,  and  even  graphic  signs,  true  hiero- 
glyphs. Here  he  was  mistaken  :  but  while  the  dream  of 
the  archaeologist  soon  vanished,  the  reality  remained. 

These  flints  were,  indeed,  works  of  art,  a  rude  and 
primitive  art  it  must  be  confessed ;  but  as  real  and  full 
of  meaning  in  its  simple  expression  as  the  Venus  of  Melos 
or  the  friezes  of  the  Parthenon.  They  were  evidently 
man's  handiwork  ;  he  had  shaped  these  flints,  had  given 
them  definite  forms,  and  had  made  them  into  weapons  or 
tools. 

And  as  these  instruments  of  war,  of  the  chase,  or  of 
handicraft  were  found  buried  at  great  depths,  along  with 
bones  of  extinct  species,  in  strata  undisturbed  since  their 
original  formation,  the  logical,  necessary,  irrefutable  con- 
clusion is  that 

Dieu  est  eternel,  mais  rhomme  est  bien  vieux. 

Old  in  truth,  for  he  was  the  contemporary  of  the  mam- 
moth or  wjoily  elephant,  of  the  Rhwioceros  tichorhiniis^ 
of  the  unwieldy  hippopotamus,  the  bear,  and  the  great  cat 
of  the  caverns,  of  the  Irish  elk,  and  of  other  animals  of 
extinct  species,  of  which  our  natural  history  museums 
possess  complete  and  magnificent  specimens. 

Eat  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  underwent  infinite  trouble, 
annoyance,  I  had  almost  said  humiliation,  before  he  ob- 
tained the  recognition  of  this  conclusion,  upon  which 
all  the  others  really  depended.  Etienne  Greoffroy  Saint- 
Hilaire   has    said,   and   he    speaks   with   authority,  '  the 


INTEODUCTION.  7 

crown  of  the  innovator  is  a  crown  of  thorns.'  The  famous 
antiquary  wreathed  his  brows  with  such  a  crown,  which 
wounded  him  more  tlian  once. 

Tlie  idea  was  suggested,  however,  and  since  it  was 
true,  nothing  could  prevent  its  ultimate  triumph,  which 
is  now  complete. 

^lore  than  twenty  years  elapsed  before  the  discovery 
of  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  w^as  allowed  to  come  before  the 
areopagus  of  the  Institute.  It  is  said  that  Cuvier  refused 
to  accept  it ;  and  this  may  easily  be  believed  of  a  savant 
who  had  laid  down  the  principle  that  man,  the  last  born 
of  creation,  could  never  have  been  contemporary  with 
those  lost  species  whose  remains  lie  buried  in  the  most 
ancient  quaternary  beds.  MM.  Brongniart,  Flourens,  and 
Dumas,  to  their  praise  be  it  spoken,  were  the  first  to 
encourage  the  researches  of  Boucher  de  Perthes,  and  to 
show  themselves  open  to  conviction.  The  cautious  and 
the  timid,  those  who  feared  to  be  involved  in  some 
heresy  or  imposture,  held  aloof,  and  maintained  that,  even 
admitting  the  flints  of  Abbeville  and  of  Saint-Acheul  to 
be  of  human  workmanship,  their  great  antiquity  would 
still  remain  a  matter  for  dispute,  so  long  as  the  precise 
agu  of  the  beds  in  which  they  were  discovered  was  unde- 
termined, so  long  as  the  virgin  condition  of  these  beds  was 
unproven,  and  lastly,  until  not  only  the  bones  of  extinct 
species,  but  also  those  of  the  human  race,  should  be  found 
buried  with  these  stone  tools. 

These  will  certainly  be  found,  was  the  confident  rejDly 
of  the  courageous  author  of  the  book  on  Antediluvian 
Antiquities,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  event  justified 
his  prophetic  words.  Many  such  discoveries  have  been 
made,  and  at  the  present  day  nothing  seems  more  surely 
proved  than  the  great  antiquity  of  the  human  race.  How- 
ever, some  belated  or  cautious  minds  are  still  in  doubt, 
and  it  is  precisely  those  whom  we  seek  to  convince.  In 
order  to  accomplish  this  end,  modern  science  has  neglected 
no  means  of  information,  has  left  no  ground  unexplored. 
Cyclopean  monuments,  cities  buried  under  layers  of  five 
or  six  forests,  the  frozen  soil  of  Siberia  and  Greenland,  the 


8     .  INTEODUCTION. 

tumuli  of  Ohio  and  Scandinavia,  burial  caves,  dolmens, 
and  menhirs,  the  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland  and  Italy, 
the  nuraghi  of  i^ardinia,  the  lava  and  volcanoes  of  Au- 
vergne,  the  diluvium  of  plains  and  valleys,  bone  caves  and 
fossil  beds,  have  all  been  investigated  by  the  science  of 
our  day,  evei)  to  the  rubbish  heaps  formed  by  the  refuse 
of  the  primitive  kitchens  of  the  Scandinavians,  known  to 
Danish  archaeologists  as  '  Jgokkenmoddinger,^  and  in  Eng- 
land as  '  kitchen  middens.' 

Our  aim  in  publishing  this  book  has  been  to  bring 
before  the  reader  the  numerous  proofs  hitherto  collected 
of  the  great  age  of  the  human  race,  together  with  the 
details  which  confirm  them.  This  forms  the  subject  of  the 
first  part.  In  the  second,  we  shall  treat  of  the  customs, 
the  industry,  the  moral  and  religious  ideas  of  man,  such 
as  he  was  before  the  use  of  metals  was  known  to  him,  and 
we  shall  endeavour  to  trace  his  portrait  with  fidelity. 


PAET  I. 
THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE   HUMAN   RACE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE  PREHISTORIC  AGES. 

I.    GENERAL    NOTIONS    OF    THE    STRUCTURE    OF 

THE    EARTH. 

It  seems  necessary,  for  the  better  understanding  of  the 
following  chapters,  to  give  to  those  of  our  readers  who 
are  unfamiliar  with  geological  terms,  a  general  idea  of  the 
various  stages  through  which  our  globe  has  passed  before 
arriving  at  the  condition  which  it  now  presents  to  our 
view. 

The  immense  majority  of  geologists  hold  that  the 
earth  was  originally  a  mass  of  incandescent  and  fluid 
matter.  As  it  gradually  cooled  an  outer  crust  was  formed, 
and  the  vapours  dispersed  in  the  atmosphere  were  con- 
densed upon  the  surface  of  the  globe,  and  formed  the 
seas.  At  the  bottom  of  these  original  seas  the  primary 
rocks  and  those  of  the  transition  period  were  deposited. 
These  were  followed  by  those  of  the  tertiary  period,  which 
Lyell  has  divided  into  eocene,  meiocene,  and  pleiocene ;  ^ 

'  The  beds  of  the  tertiary  period  have  been  thus  divided  by  Lyell 
according  to  the  number  of  recent  shells  contained  in  them  as  compared 
to  the  fossil  ones.  The  lowest  layer,  the  eocene  beds  (ews,  dawn,  and 
Kajvds,  recent),  that  is,  the  most  ancient  deposit  of  the  tertiary  epoch, 
contains  only  3^  species  per  cent,  similar  to  those  which  now  exist. 
The  meiocene,  or  middle  layer  (fielou,  less,  and  Kaif6s,  recent)  is  that  in 
which  the  recent  shells,  less  niunemus  than  in  the  pleiocene,  are  in  the 
proportion  of  17  or  20  per  cent,  as  compared  to  the  extinct  species.  Tlie 
proportion  increases  to  40  or  50  per  cent,  in  the  upper  layer,  the 
pleiocene  beds  (n\i7oy,  more,  and  /ca/"<Js,  recent).     An  important  remark 


10  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

lastly  the  beds  of  the  quaternary  epoch,  improperly  styled 
diluvian.^ 

The  oldest  rocks,  those  which  were  formed  by  the 
action  of  fire,  and  which  have  therefore  received  the  name 
of  jjlidonic,  are  not  stratified,  that  is,  disposed  in  layers, 
and  contain  no  organic  remains.  The  sedimentary  or 
aqueous  rocks  contain,  on  the  other  hand,  numerous 
remains  of  vital  organisms,  belonging  to  creatures  more  or 
less  complex,  and  bearing  more  or  less  resemblance  to  the 
plants  and  animals  of  the  present  day  as  they  are  nearer 
to  or  farther  removed  from  our  own  time. 

The  geologist  is  thus  enabled  to  determine  the  relative 
age  of  a  given  rock  by  means  of  the  fossil  species  of  which 
it  bears  the  impression  or  retains  the  debris,  just  as  an 
antiquary  can  judge  of  the  age  of  a  monument  by  the 
coin  he  has  found  beneath  its  ruins. 

But  we  cannot  enter  into  the  history,  full  of  interest 
as  it  is,  of  the  successive  phases  of  life  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth  ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  birds  ^  and  mammalia  are 
rare  in  the  beds  of  the  secondary  epoch,  at  least  in  Europe, 
and  are  first  found  in  great  abundance  in  the  tertiary  for- 
mations ;  that  certain  marsupials  and  pachydermata  now 
completely  extinct   {pterodon,  palceotherium,  acerothe- 

has  been  made  by  Mr.  Marsh,  namely  that  the  three  layers  of  beds  of  the 
tertiary  epoch,  as  they  exist  in  America,  'are  not  the  exact  equivalents 
of  the  eocene,  meiocene,  and  pleiocene  of  Europe,  although  usually  so 
considered  and  known  by  the  same  names  ;  but,  in  general,  the  fauna 
of  each  appears  to  be  older  than  that  of  i'S  corresponding  representative 
in  the  other  hemisphere ;  an  important  fact  not  hitherto  recognised.' 
(Marsh,  Introduction  and  Succession  of  Vertebrate  Life  in,  America,  p.  24. 
An  address  delivered  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  August  30,  1877.) 

»  The  words  diluriuni,  diluvian  strata,  since  they  sometimes  convey 
the  impression  that  the  biblical  deluge  created  these  beds,  should  be 
abandoned  along  with  the  error  which  has  given  rise  to  these  mis- 
leading terms.  The  names  of  rocks  of  the  fourth  epoch,  or  post-pleiocene, 
have  rightly  been  substituted  for  the  latter,  as  more  in  harmony  with  the 
facts  of  geological  chronology.  The  beds  known  under  these  names 
are  far  anterior  to  the  historical  deluge  of  Noah  or  of  Deucalion. 

2  r,irds  are  already  numerous  in  the  secondary  rocks  in  America.  It 
was  in  the  chalk  beds  of  the  Kansas  that  Marsh  discovered  the  remark- 
able odontornitlivs,  or  toothed  biras,  which  seem  to  establish  one  hnk 
between  birds  and  reptiles,  as  the  pterosaurians  wi  hout  teeth  (genus 
^te^ranodclon)  form  the  passag'e  from  reptiles  to  birds. 


QUATERNARY   ROCKS.  11 

riu?n,  i,^'C.  c^c),  fire  the  first  to  appear;  that  these  are 
succeeded  by  otlier  often  colossal  and  extinct  forms,  such  as 
the  megatherium^  the  dLnotherium,  the  macrothei'lvm, 
the  mastodon,  nud  even  monkeys  (diy op ithecus)  ;  finally, 
that  later  on,  and  in  the  uppermost  or  pleiocene  beds, 
elephants,  oxen,  horses,  carnivorous  and  quadrumanous 
animals  begin  to  appear,  which  show  much  analogy  with 
extant  genera  and  species. 

As  Professor  Albert  Gaudry  justly  observes :  '  Tlie 
pachyderms  flourished  on  the  earth  during  the  earlier 
half  of  the  tertiary  period,  and  only  isolated  examples  of 
them  are  to  be  seen  at  the  present  day ;  the  ruminants 
on  the  other  hand  lived  during  the  second  half  of  the 
tertiary  period,  and  their  order  is  still  extremely  numerous 
in  our  own  time.'  ^  The  quaternary  or  diluvian  beds 
follow  the  pleiocene,  and  their  latest  formations  may  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  the  present  epoch.  We  will 
therefore  devote  a  few  moments  to  the  study  of  these  beds, 
which  are  the  more  important  to  us,  since  they  alone,  as 
far  as  we  yet  know,  are  almost  incontestably  proved  to 
contain  the  most  ancient  traces  of  the  existence  of  man 
upon  the  earth. 

QUATERNARY    OR    DILUVIAX    ROCKS. 

The  diluvium,  of  geologists. — The  quaternary  beds, 
also  called  diluvian,  pleistocene,  or  still  better,  post-plei- 
ocene,  are  composed  of  a  series  of  layers  or  depositions 
of  very  various  nature  (marine,  fluviatile,  torrential,  or 
glacial),  formed  between  the  end  of  the  pleiocene  period 
and  the  dawn  of  history.  Sometimes  stratified,  sometimes 
mixed  or  incoherent,  they  contain  the  remains  of  numerous 
mammals,  some  of  which  of  colossal  size  have  slowdy  and 
gradually  become  extinct,  while  others,  usually  smaller, 
have  survived  to  our  own  day. 

The  stratified  deposits  of  which  these  beds  are  partly 
composed  are  very  similar  to  those  of  the  tertiary  period. 

'  Albert  Gaudry,  Les  enchaincments  da  mondc  animal  dans  ha  tem2)i 
giologuiitcs,  p.  77,  i'aiis,  1878. 


12  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   HUMAN   EACE. 

The  great  marine  formation  of  the  coasts  of  Sicily,  the 
pa^mpas  of  South  America,  the  sands  of  Sahara,  the  steppes 
of  Eastern  Russia,  the  travertine  of  Tuscany,  are  well- 
known  examples  of  quaternary  deposits.  But  in  addition 
to  these,  other  much  less  regular  deposits  have  been 
formed  under  circumstances  very  characteristic  of  the 
epoch  in  question. 

These  characteristic  phenomena  are  as  follows  : — 

(1)  Erratic  deposits  of  the  Alps,  and  of  the  north  of 
Europe. 

(2)  Diluvium  of  the  valleys. 

(3)  Filling  of  the  caves  and  osseous  breccia. 

(4)  Certain  appearance  of  man  upon  the  earth. 
Glacial   Period.      Erratic    Phenomena.  —  It    seems 

proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  towards  the  close  of  the 
tertiary,  or  at  the  beginning  of  the  quaternary  epoch,  the 
temperature  of  the  northern  hemisphere  was  sensibly 
lowered.  As  the  atmosphere  became  moister  and  colder, 
the  watery  vapour  was  condensed,  and  frequent  falls  of 
snow,  in  the  form  of  neve,  covered  the  mountains,  plains, 
and  valleys  of  northern  and  central  Europe  with  glaciers. 
This  is  known  as  the  glacial  period.^    The  Alpine  traveller 

'  This  term  is  perhaps  incorrect,  as  it  leads  to  the  belief  that  there  was 
but  one  glacial  period.  Many  g-eologists,  however,  and  notably  M.  Ch. 
Martins,  reckon  two  glacial  epochs,  the  first  belonging  to  the  older  plei- 
ocene  period,  the  second  to  the  more  recent,  that  is,  towards  the  beginning 
of  the  quaternary  epoch.  Certain  geologists  go  so  far  as  to  maintain, 
that  these  glacial  phenomena  recurred  periodically  from  the  time  of  the 
most  ancient  fossiliferous  strata  down  to  that  of  the  diluvian  rocks 
properly  so  called.  M.  Julien,  who  has  specially  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  glaciers,  also  admits  two  glacial  epochs  ;  the  one  beginning 
after  the  development  of  the  mastodon,  which  became  extinct  in  Europe 
at  the  end  of  the  tertiary  period,  while  it  continued  to  live  in  America 
throughout  quaternary  times.  This  first  glacial  epoch  was  followed  by 
the  diluvian  period,  a  consequence  of  the  melting  of  these  first  glaciers, 
to  which  magniticent  phenomenon  the  forma' ion  of  valleys,  the  erosion 
of  the  soil,  the  transport  of  boulders,  &:c.,  must  also  be  attributed.  The 
glacial  phenomena  were  repeated  at  the  epoch  of  the  Klcphasp'i'innfienivs, 
and  have  left  their  traces  in  the  Vosges,  the  Alps,  and  the  P.vrenees,  as 
the  first  had  done  in  Switzerland  and  in  norihern  Europe.  The  inter- 
glacial  epoch,  that  is,  the  intervening  period,  is  represented  by  the  sub- 
merged forest  of  Cromer,  the  leaf -impressed  coal  of  Diirnten  and  of 
Utznach  (canton  of  Zurich),  the  deposits  of  the  Val  d'  Arno,  kc.  M. 
.lulien  considers  the  Alpine  diluvium  to  be  a  re-furmation  of  the  sedi- 


ERRATIC   I>1IEN0MI:NA.  13 

is  surprised  to  see  blocks  of  granite  or  porphyry  lying  on 
the  eastern  flank  of  the  Jura,  or  dispersed  in  the  Swiss 
valleys ;  they  are  often  of  enormous  size,  and  their  mine- 
ralogic  constituents  ditfer  completely  from  that  of  the 
calcareous  beds  or  Jurassic  marl  upon  which  they  lie. 
Striated,  grooved,  and  polished  surfaces  may  be  observed 
on  these  detached  blocks,  and  upon  the  undisturbed  rocks 
which  shut  in  on  either  side  the  Alpine  valleys. 

The  transport  of  these  colossal  masses  of  rock  to  the 
heights  where  they  may  now  be  seen,  and  the  scratching, 
grooving,  and  partial  polish  which  may  be  observed  upon 
them,  are  now  generally  admitted  to  be  the  work  of  ex- 
tinct glaciers,  which  in  their  slow  progress,  and  by  means 
of  the  stones  imbedded  in  their  mass,  have  polished,  and 
as  it  were,  engraved  the  rocks  with  which  their  movement 
brought  them  in  contact.  The  erratic  blocks  lying  upon 
peaks  often  very  far  from  their  original  site  were  also 
brought  thither  by  the  glaciers  ol  that  period. 

At  some  definite  period  a  rise  in  the  temperature  of 
the  surrounding  atmosphere  brought  about  the  melting  of 
the  ice,  and  as  a  natural  consequence  all  the  foreign  bodies 
which  were  borne  along  by  the  glacier  were  deposited  on 
the  sides  of  the  mountains  or  in  the  valleys.  The  action 
of  the  floods,  caused  by  the  melting  of  the  same  ice, 
sufficiently  explams  also  the  presence  of  glacial  mud,  the 
fragments  of  rock,  the  gravel  and  waterworn  pebbles  which 
are  to  be  found  at  the  foot  of  the  Alps,  and  in  the  neigh- 
bouring valleys  (moraines). 

The  erratic  phenomena  in  the  north,  more  complex  and 
more  extensive  than  those  of  the  Alps,  are  evidently  due 
to  analogous  causes.  In  this  case  the  floating  ice  from 
the  arctic  regions  transported  immense  blocks,  of  which 
the  mineralogic  conatituents  sufficiently  prove  their  foreign 

ment  of  the  first  period,  to  which  he  also  attributes  the  upper  grey  and 
red  diluvium,  and  the  lower  grey  diluvium,  or  diluvium  of  the  plains. 
He  attributes  to  the  second  period  the  diluvium  of  the  Vosges,  and  he 
connects  the  hess  with  the  meltins:  of  the  glaciers  of  the  Rhine  which 
belong:  to  this  period,  and  which  still  subsisted  when  thfse  of  the  Vosc^es 
had  completely  dis;\p[)eared.  {Mat i'riaua- j^our  scrvii'  a  Vhistoire  jjriinitivs 
I't  naturelle  de  Vhomme,  t.  v.  p.  374.) 

2 


14  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

origin,  to  a  great  distance  from  the  place  of  their  forma- 
tion. These  blocks,  known  in  Germany  under  ihe  name 
of  Fmidlinge  (foundhngs),  are  scattered  abundantly  over 
the  plains  of  Russia,  Poland,  Prussia,  and  even  of  England. 
Nearly  similar  phenomena  took  place  in  North  America. 

Deposits  of  sand,  gravel,  and  sea  shells,  known  under 
the  name  of  drift,  are  to  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  these  blocks,  which  are  for  the  most  part  angular. 
Everything  seems  to  prove  that  these  deposits,  which  ex- 
tend over  a  great  part  of  Northern  Europe,  starting  from  the 
Scandinavian  peninsula,  were  formed  a.t  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  by  which,  during  or  immediately  after  the  first  glacial 
epoch,  the  greater  part  of  North  America,  the  British  Isles, 
and  Scandinavia  was  covered. 

Diluvium  of  the  Valleys.-  The  ordinary  erratic  pheno- 
mena, we  are  told  by  M.  Leymerie,  took  place  principally 
among  mountains  and  in  their  immediate  neighbourhood, 
and  the  glaciers  were  the  principal  agents,  or  at  least  took 
a  direct  part  in  their  production.  The  various  phenomena 
which  are  known  collectively  as  diluvium,  are  on  the  con- 
trary chiefly  to  be  observed  in  the  plains,  and  they  owe 
their  existence  to  river-floods.  Two  distinct  and  contrary 
effects  are  produced  by  these  phenomena — the  formation 
of  those  valleys  known  as  valleys  of  erosion,  and  the 
partial  filling  of  these  same  valleys  by  the  diluvian  waters 
bearing  along  in  their  current  the  debris  from  the  moun- 
tains (gravel,  waterworn  pebbles,  sediment  of  mud  and 
sand,  usually  impregnated  with  oxide  of  iron  or  calcareous 
matter),  which  they  deposit  upon  the  plain.  The  two 
sorts  of  diluvium  are  generally  distinguished  as  the  grey 
and  the  red  diluvium,  the  latter  more  recent  than  the 
former.  Lastly,  an  important  deposit  of  an  homogeneous 
greyish-yellow  sediment,  known  in  Alsace  under  the  name 
of  lehm  (loam)  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ehine  as 
loess,  covers  the  stony  deposit  which  constitutes  the  true 
diluvium  to  a  depth  of  sixty  or  eighty  yards. 

M.  Favre  has  established  between  the  diluvian  beds 
of  the  north-west  of  France,  and  those  of  the  valley  of 
the  Rhine,  a  parallel  which  it  may  be  useful  to  reproduce 


QUATERNARY   ROCKS. 


15 


here.  If,  as  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt,  this  parallel 
be  exact,  it  follows  that  the  remains  of  human  industry 
found  in  the  valleys  of  the  Somme,  of  the  Seine,  and  of  the 
Marne,  correspond  to  the  lower  diluvium  of  the  Khine 
valley,  a  deposit  far  more  ancient  than  the  glaciers  of  the 
Vosges,  since  it  is  separated  from  the  latter  by  the  mean 
diluvium  of  the  Rhine,  or  red  diluvium  of  the  Seine 
valley.^ 

Quaternary  Beds. 


In  the  Norlh-ire^t  of  France. 

Upper  Deposit. —  Lehm.  or  loess. 

SIeax  Deposit. — Sand  and  gravel, 
known  as  red  diluritmi  (valleys 
of  the  Somme,  Seine  and  Marne). 

Lower  Deposit. — Gravel  trans- 
ported from  a  distance,  contain- 
in^:  (lints  of  human  workmanship, 
and  fossil  remains  of  Elejjlias 
prinugcniiis,  rhinoceros,  stag, 
horse,  ox,  i.V:c. 


In  (he  Rhine  ValJry. 

Lelim  or  hess  in  the  plain,  moraines 
in  the  mountains. 

Gravel  composed  of  materials  not 
transported  from  a  distance  :  an 
earlier  deposit  than  the  ancient 
glaciers. 

Gravel,  pebbles,  composed  ex- 
clusively of  rocks  of  Alpine 
origin,  of  earlier  date  than  the 
glaciers. 


The  diluvian,  or  quaternary,  epoch,  is  further  charac- 
terised, as  we  have  before  remarked,  by  the  deposits  in 
the  caves,  by  the  formation  of  osseous  breccia,^  and  by 
the  certain  appearance  of  man  upon  the  earth.  The  cir- 
cumstantial details  into  which  we  shall  shortly  enter  allow 
and  even  constrain  us  to  confine  ourselves  for  the  moment 
to  these  general  outlines.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
species,  extinct  or  migrated,^  the  quaternary  fauna  and 
flora  offer  the  most  striking  analogies,  or  more  strictly 
speaking,  the  most  complete  identity,  with  the  fauna  and 
flora  of  the  present  day. 

'  A.  Favre,  Sur  V existence  de  I'homme  snr  la  terre  antcTienrement  a 
Vapvantioii  des  ancicns  fjluciers.  (^Bibliothlque  uidvcrselle  de  Geneve; 
Archives,  t.  viii.  p.  200,  1860.) 

2  The  osseous  breccia  are  heaps  composed  of  angular  fragments  of 
rock  and  various  fossil  bones,  cemented  together  by  calcareous  or  ferru- 
ginous mud.  These  osseous  breccia  occur  in  the  l)one  caves,  and  in  the 
numerous  holes  or  tissuros  w^liich  abound  on  the  coasts  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean (Cette,  Antibes,  Nice,  Gibraltar,  kc). 

*  The  principal  species  of  the  quaternary  beds  which  are  extinct  at 
the  present  day  are  the  mammoth,  the  Illnnoceros  tichorhinus,  the  great 
bear,  the  great  cat,  the  cave  hyena,  and  the  Irish  elk. 


16 


THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE   HUMAN   EACE. 


Chronological  Table 

A. — Aqueous  rocks  formed  at  the  bottom 
Modern  Kocks 


Quaternary  or  post- 
pleiocene  rocks 


Primary  Rocks 


f  Pleiocene 
1  Meiocene 


Tertiary  Rocks  .   H 


Secondary  Rocks 


Transition  Rocks  . 


t.  Eocene    . 


/  Cretaceous 
Jurassic  . 


Trias 

Permian  . 

Carboniferous 
Devonian 
tSilurian  . 
I  Cambrian 


OF  THE   PeINCIPAL   RoCKS. 

of  seas,  and  stratifi-:d,  or  disposed  in  layers. 

Lacustrine  and  fluviatile  deposits. 
Sand  bills 

Red  diluvium,  and    upper    lehm 

or  loess 
Grey  diluvium 
Rbine  loess  of  glacial  origin 

Sand  pits  of  Saint-Prest 

f  Freshwater  strata 
Sands  of  the  Orleannais 
Faluns  of  Touraine 
Limestone  of  Beauce 

i  Gypsum  and   marl  of   Paris  and 
Aix 
Paris  limestone  beds 
London  clay 

Chalk  of  Champagne 
Lithographic  limestone  of  Solen- 

hofen 
Variegated  marl,  muschelhilk 

Sandstone  of  the  Vosges 

(Coal  fields,  new  and  old  red  sand- 
stone, schistose  rocks  of  the 
Pyrenees 


B.— TJnstratified  or  Plutonic  rocks. 

Crystalline  schists 
Gneiss,  mica-schist 
Metamorphic  limestone 


Granite 
Protogine 
^  Porphyry 


EruiMx'c  BocTcs 

Tracliyte 

Basalt 

Lava 


Serpentine 

Diorite 

Ophite 


II.    THE   MEANING  OF  THE  WORD  FOSSIL  AS  APPLIED 
TO   MAN  AND   OTHER  ORGANISED  BEINGS. 

The   species  of  man  whom  we  propose  to   study  is 
commonly  known  as  fossil^  man,  primitive  man,  pre- 

'  PreMsto^-io  man  is  frequently  but  wrongly  designated  fossU  man. 
This  last  epithet  suggests  the  idea  of  an  extinct  species ;  applied  to 


FOSSIL  SPECIES  17 

kisforh  man  :  he  has  even  been  sometimes  called  vian- 
taonhey^  or  jnthecaiifhrope.  The  first  of  these  denomi- 
nations needs  comment;  the  second  rests  upon  a  bold 
hypothesis,  which  needs  proof.  What  then  is  a  fossil 
being?  The  various  definitions  which  this  word  has  re- 
ceived necessarily  bear  the  stamp  of  the  opinions  prevalent 
at  the  time  when  they  were  given. 

Thus,  when  geologists  explained  all  phenomena  by 
tremendous  cataclysms,  when  Alcide  d'Orbigny  supposed 
that  the  Sovereign  Architect,  filling  the  ungrateful  vole  of 
Penelope,  created  and  destroyed  his  still  incomplete  work 
twenty-seven  times,  the  word  fossil  was  understood  to 
mean  any  organic  remains  naturally  buried  in  the  strata 
of  the  earth  previous  to  the  last  catastrophe  which  over- 
whelmed it,  that  is,  before  the  appearance  of  man  upon  its 
siu'face.  Now,  this  first  appearance,  placed  after  the  dilu- 
vian  or  post-pleiocene  epoch,  properly  so  called,  apparently 
formed  a  natural  boundary  between  geological  ages  and 
the  present  time.  Every  animal  or  vegetable  species  of 
which  the  remains  were  found  buried  in  the  diluvian,  ter- 
tiary, or  yet  older  strata,  were  reputed  to  be  fossil,  and 
therefore  necessarily  extinct.  All  species  buried  at  a  later 
date  than  the  diluvian  deposit  were  to  be  considered 
merely  huincttile  or  sub-fossil.  The  words  fossil  species 
were,  therefore,  synonymous  with  extinct  species,  as  if  any 
organised  being  might  not  be  individually  fossil,  without 
the  extinction  of  the  entire  species  to  which  it  belonged. 

Thus  the  iiriis  was  only  fossil  in  Coesar's  time ;  at  the 
present  day  the  whole  species  is  fossil  and  extinct.  But 
the  aurochs,  whose  remains  are  found  in  the  diluvian  beds 
with  those  of  the  cave  bear  and  of  the  mammoth,  is  at 
once  fossil  and  living,  since  it  is  still  to  be  found,  in  smaU 
numbers  it  is  true,  in  the  forests  of  Lithuania,  where  it 
continues  to  breed  under  the  special  protection  of  the  Czlt 
of  Russia. 

Moreover,  a  certain  number  of  animals  of  which  the 

man  it  signifies  merely  tljat  he  Las  been  conlcmporary  wilh  lost  species, 
for  his  own  still  exists. 


18  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   HUMAN   RACE. 

remains  are  found  in  strata  of  a  later  date  than  the  first 
appearance  of  man,  have  become  extinct  at  a  time  very 
near  our  own.  No  one  will  deny  that  these  species  are  at 
once  fossil  and  extinct.  The  dodo  of  the  Isle  of  France, 
the  dinornis  of  New  Zealand,  and  the  epyornis  of  Mada- 
gascar are  cases  in  point.  We  therefore  apply  the  word 
fossil  to  all  species  really  extinct,  even  though  its  extinc- 
tion was  not  prior  to  the  present  geological  period,  and 
took  place  under  conditions  similar  to  those  now  existing. 
For  us  every  extinct  species,  such  as  mammoth  or  dodo, 
is  fossil,  although  every  fossil  species  is  not  necessarily 
extinct,  such  as  reindeer  and  musk  ox. 

As  it  is  essential  in  the  discussion  of  every  important 
subject  to  arrive  at  a  distinct  understanding  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  terms  employed,  we  assert  that,  in  our 
opinion,  the  term  fossil  as  applied  to  man  does  not  repre- 
sent the  idea  of  extinction  (for  we  hold  that  primitive 
man  still  exists  in  the  person  of  his  descendants),  but 
that  of  synchronism  with  those  great  animals  (mammoth. 
Rhinoceros  tichorhinus,  &c.)  which,  after  leaving  more  or 
less  numerous  traces  in  the  pleiocene  rocks,  have  ended 
by  becoming  extinct  at  different  ages  of  the  quaternary 
epoch,  and  of  which  some  few  have  survived  even  to  our 
own  day,  as  the  reindeer,  musk  ox,  &c. 

Fossil  man,  as  we  understand  the  words,  does  not 
belong  to  the  present  geological  age,  to  that  which  directly 
follows  the  quaternary  epoch.  His  actions  are  not  within 
the  domain  of  history,  since  they  are  far  earlier.  The 
study  of  primitive  man  belongs  to  the  province  of  palaeon- 
tology, on  the  same  grounds  as  that  of  his  contemporaries, 
the  great  cave  bear  and  the  mammoth.  The  human  species 
is  fossil  but  not  extinct. 

III.    PREHISTORIC  AGES. 

'  It  is  with  humanity  as  with  the  successive  individuals 
of  which  it  is  composed;  memory  only  begins  at  a  some- 
what advanced  stage  of  the  development  of  the  race  ;  it 
has  no  consciousness  of  earlier  conditions.  The  first  mani- 
festations of  essential  activity  have  left  no  traces  in  the 


PREHISTORIC   AGES.  19 

memory  of  mankind.'  ^     But,  as  is  invarial)ly  the  case,  at 
the  point  where  history  ceases,  fable  begins. 

Classical  antiquity  tells  us  of  four  successive  ages — the 
ages  of  gold,  silver,  bronze,  and  iron.  Under  the  reign  of 
Saturn,  that  is  during  the  golden  age,  men  enjoyed  a  long 
life,  which  they  spent  in  the  midst  of  happiness,  peace, 
and  plenty.  But  the  horrors  of  war  were  soon  let  loose 
among  them  ;  iron  took  the  place  of  gold  ;  a  rapid  de- 
cadence began,  and  man  retains  at  the  present  day  only 
faint  traces  of  his  primitive  perfection  and  happiness. 
Another  myth  of  later  date,  and  more  in  harmony  with 
the  focts  observed,  tells  us  that  the  earth  was  originally 
inhabited  by  a  race  of  giants,  and  by  a  subsequent  creation 
of  a  race  of  dwarfs.  The  giants  dwelt  among  the  rocks, 
and  built  there  walls  of  cyclopean  masonry ;  they  carried 
stone  clubs,  and  were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  metals.  The 
dwarfs,  far  weaker,  but  at  the  same  time  far  more  in- 
dustrious than  the  giants,  inaugurated  the  age  of  bronze. 
They  sought  this  metal  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 
with  the  help  of  fire  forged  precious  ornaments  and  shining 
arms,  which  they  gave  to  men.  Finally,  giants  and  dwarfs 
gave  place  to  the  men  of  the  iron  age,  and  were  forced  to 
abandon  the  land.  It  is  curious  to  see  poetry  thus  fore- 
stall history,  and  mention  distinctly  tjie  series  of  epochs 
which  are  generally  admitted  by  modern  science.  Lucre- 
tius has  these  lines  in  his  poem,  '  De  natura  rerum ' : — 

Arma  antiqua,  manus,  ungues,  dentesquo  fuerunt, 
Et  lapides,  et  item  sylvarum  fragmina  rami : 
Posterius  ferri  vis  est,  airisque  reperta, 
Sed  prior  a^ris  erat,  quam  ferri  cognitus  usus. 

The  researches  undertaken,  and  the  discoveries  given 
to  the  world  in  these  days  in  Denmark,  England,  France, 
Switzerland,  Italy,  and,  indeed,  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
world,  show  that  the  facts  are  very  nearly  in  agreement 
with  the  fable. 

Archaeology  combines  with  geology  to  show  that  human 
civilisation  has  passed  through  three  more  or  less  distinct 
stages,  in  Europe  at  least,  for  which  the  names  of  stone, 

'  Laineniiais,  Etmuisse  d'unc  Pldlosophle ■,  t.  iii.  p.  -12. 


20  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

bronze,  and  iron  ages  have  been  retained,  although  they  may 
be,  perhaps,  rather  too  suggestive  of  the  myth.  We  ought, 
probably,  to  reckon  that  a  copper  age  intervened  between 
the  stone  and  bronze  ages,  if  not  in  Europe,^  where  it  has 
left  few  traces,  at  least  in  certain  districts  of  the  New 
World.  For  instance,  the  mound  builders,  an  ancient  and 
long  extinct  race,  whose  earthworks  excite  the  astonishment 
and  admiration  of  the  traveller  in  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi,  wrought  the  native  copper  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior with  stone  hammers  and  without  the  aid  of  tire,  long 
before  the  day  when  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  cast 
bronze  statues,  weapons,  and  ornaments  of  every  kind.  It 
is  certain  that  Europe,  whose  advanced  intellectual  culture 
is  justly  the  object  of  our  admiration,  was  first  inhabited 
bv  tribes  to  whom  the  use  of  metals  was  entirely  unknown. 
Flints  more  or  less  skilfully  fashioned,  and  other  very  hard 
materials,  such  as  serpentine,  quartz,  and  diorite,  bones, 
horn,  and  wood  were  the  only  tools  used  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  their  weapons  and  of  the  implements  of  their  rude 
industry. 

These  tribes  belonged,  then,  to  the  stone  age,  the  first 
stage  of  civilisation.  But  it  has  been  thought  expedient 
to  divide  this  age  into  tw^o  periods,  according  to  the  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  perfection  to  which  the  workmanship  of 
the  implements  had  attained  in  each  subdivision ;  the 
earlier  of  these  two  periods  has  received  the  name  of 
archseolithic  or  palaeolithic  (the  age  of  rough  hewn  stone), 

'  Several  urns  and  instruments  of  pure  copper  have,  however,  been 
found  in  the  British  Isles,  in  Hungary,  Savoy,  Switzerland,  and  Spain. 
where,  according  to  M.  de  Prad,  the  copper  age  preceded  the  bronze 
age.  According  to  M,  Rougemont,  the  Russian  Tschoudes  also  had  their 
;ige  of  pure  copper.  Lastly,  implements  both  of  pure  copper  and  of 
bronze  have  been  taken  from  Egyptian  tombs  which  date  from  the 
time  of  Supnis,  the  builder  of  the  great  pyramid.  We  cannot  hitherto 
decide  with  certainty  whether  or  no  a  copper  age  existed  in  France  or 
in  America.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  ornaments  of  red  copper  (necklace 
beads,  rings,  and  bracelets)  have  lately  been  found  in  the  burial  caves 
of  Saint  Jean  d'Alcas  and  of  Durfort,  and  even  in  the  dolmens  of 
Aveyron  (Cazalis  de  Fondouce,  Cariailhac).  In  this  there  is  nothing 
surprising,  since  copper  is  far  easier  to  work  than  bronze  :  it  is  tlierefore 
natural  that  the  former  should  have  preceded  the  latter,  especially  in 
districts  where  ci)pper  in  a  pi.-o  stats  is  more  or  less  abundant. 


THE   STONE   AGES. 


21 


tho  more  rocont  tliat  of  iicolitluc  ('at^'o  of  polislicd  stone),' 
(Sec  fii(s.  1,  2,  and  :i.) 

The  cave  bear,  the  maiiinioth,  the  Rhinoceros  tlcho- 


FlO.  1,  2.  CaRVI  P  HINTS 
(Dknmakk)  SI'K  IMKNs  ol 
STONK    IMPLEMENTS.      (After 

Lublx>ck.) 


Fig.  n.  Specimen  of  polished 

STONE    (IkISII    axe). 


rhinas,  &c.  belong  to  the  first  of  these  periods  ;    they 
had  become  extinct  in  the  neolithic  period.     At  this  last 


'  The  archaic-  or  pahv^olitliic  ntre  is  anterior  to,  the  neolithic  age 
posterior  to,  the  second  glacial  ei^ocli. 


22  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF   THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

epoch  even  the  reindeer  had  disappeared  from  our  lands 
and  had  migrated  northwards,  whither  the  musk  ox  (Ovibos 
moschatiis)  soon  followed  it.  The  age  of  polished  stone 
is  further  characterised  by  the  construction  of  the  dolmens, 
the  dawn  of  agriculture,  and  the  complete  domestication 
of  several  animals,  which  have  since  become  the  faithful 
companions  or  the  useful  servants  of  man. 

The  neolithic  age  was  succeeded  by  that  of  bronze, 
an  alloy  of  about  nine  parts  of  copper  to  one  of  tin, 
which  is  inferior  in  hardness  to  steel,  but  usually  harder 
than  iron.' 

After  the  lapse  of  a  period  of  time  whose  duration  is 
yet  undetermined,  iron,  which  is  far  more  difficult  of  ex- 
traction and  fusion  than  copper,  replaced  bronze  ;  at  which 
point  the  third  period  or  stage  of  European  civilisation 
began. 

It  is  sometimes  rather  difficult  to  draw  the  line  sharply 
between  the  various  ages  which  we  have  just  enumerated ; 
the  work  of  one  is  often  carried  on  into  another.  Thus 
for  instance  in  a  single  cave  of  the  island  of  Zeeland,  flints 
simply  splintered,  and  those  which  are  polished  or  at  least 
carefully  fashioned,  have  both  been  discovered  ;  and  again 
during  "the  age  of  bronze,  even  during  that  of  iron,  stone 
was  still  frequently  used  concurrently  with  metal.  The 
discovery  of  one  or  more  implements  of  stone  in  any  given 
spot  is,  therefore,  not  a  sufficient  ground  for  asserting  that 
these  implements  belong,  actually  and  exclusively,  to  one 
or  other  of  the  palseolithic  or  neolithic  periods  established 
by  Lubbock.^ 

In  like  manner,  the  use  of  bronze  was  not  discontinued 
immediately  after  the  dawn  of  the  iron  age  ;  witness  the 
tombs  of  Hallstadt  in  Austria,  where  bronze  swords  were 

'  It  is  supposed  to  be  satisfactorily  proved,  that  the  iron  age  in 
Denmark  extends  back  about  as  far  as  tlie  Christian  era;  the  age  of 
bronze  is  supposed  to  have  lasted  about  2,000  years  ;  lastly,  the  stone 
age,  which  includes  the  indefinite  time  previous  to  the  bronze  epoch, 
lasted  for  a  thousand  years,  during  which  man  occupied  that  country. 

*■*  In  North  America,  for  instance,  implements  of  rough  hewn  stone 
arc  commonly  found  mixed  with  polished  flints.  It  is  therefore  im- 
possible to  establish  any  chronological  order. 


THE  IRON   AND  LRONZE  rEIilOD.  23 

found  with  axes  and  knives  of  iron.  At  Hallstadt  the 
passage  from  one  age  to  another  was  evidently  slow  and 
gradual.  But  elsewhere,  in  Switzerland  for  instance,  at 
the  time  of  the  invasion  of  the  Helvetians,  the  transition 
appears  to  have  been  violent,  like  social  revolutions  or  the 
great  disturbances  of  the  earth's  crust.  In  short  it  is  easy 
to  understand  that  in  a  given  country,  among  a  given 
people,  a  thousand  circumstances  may  have  influenced  the 
successive  or  simultaneous  use  of  stone  and  of  metals. 
Hence  arises  a  more  or  less  pronounced  inequality  in  the 
march  of  civilisation  ;  the  use  of  iron,  for  example,  being 
known  to  one  people,  whilst  another  had  only  stone  and 
bronze  at  its  disposal.  Thus  in  Liguria,  no  trace  of  the 
use  of  metal  previous  to  Koman  times  has  been  discovered  ; 
the  age  of  stone  lasted  in  that  country  until  the  beginning 
of  history ;  and  finally,  it  was  not  until  the  early  years  of 
the  present  century  that  the  Lapps  abandoned  the  use  of 
stone  tools. 

Even  in  our  day  groups  of  men  exist  who  are  still  in 
their  lithic  acfe,  and  who  are  nevertheless  in  intimate 
and  daily  relations  with  peoples  who  have  attained  an 
advanced  stage  of  civilisation.  Such  are  the  Australians, 
W'ho  cling  persistently  to  their  savage  life,  and  continue  to 
use  weapons  and  tools  of  stone  in  presence  of  the  metals 
of  every  kind  introduced  by  the  English.  The  modern 
Papuans  remain  stationary,  while  under  the  influence  of 
British  civilisation  the  fauna  and  flora  of  their  native  land 
are  undergoing  a  change  as  radical  and  complete  as  that 
which  might  be  produced  by  a  sudden  disturbance  of  the 
earth's  crust. 

The  New  Caledonians  of  the  present  day  employ  iron 
implements  concurrently  with  axes  of  well  polished  stone. 
Sir  Samuel  Baker  assures  us  that  the  inhabitants  of 
lUuria  (Northern  Africa)  use  extremely  primitive  tools, 
such  as  anvils  and  hammers  of  stone,  and  yet  at  the  same 
time  they  show  remarkable  skill  in  ironwork.  Similar  focts 
have  been  observed  among  the  Kaffirs  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Polynesia.  According  to  Charles  Smart,  surgeon  in  the 
United  States  army,  the  Lacaudones  of  Chi(iuis,  the  last 


24  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   HUMAN  KACE. 

remains  of  a  people  whom  the  conquerors  were  unable  to 
subdue,  live  in  huts  built  of  palm  leaves,  and  hunt  with 
stone-headed  arrows,  though  they  cultivate  the  sugar-cane 
and  fruit  trees. 

We  should,  however,  be  drawing  a  false  inference  from 
these  facts,  in  concluding  that  the  tribes  of  which  we  have 
just  spoken  are  still  in  the  stone  age  properly  so  called. 
A  slight  examination  will  prove  this  conclusion  to  be 
erroneous,  and  will  show  that  the  simultaneous  use  of  stone 
and  metal  is  no  rarer  in  our  own  day  than  it  was  before 
and  during  the  Trojan  war.  A  sufficient  proof  is  furnished 
us  by  the  example  of  the  smiths  and  tinkers  of  Ireland, 
who  until  a  comparatively  recent  period  used  in  their  daily 
work  hammers  and  anvils  of  stone.  M.  Emile  Burnouf 
assures  us  that  in  certain  districts  of  the  Levant  pieces  of 
flint  fixed  in  a  triangular  piece  of  wood  drawn  by  a  horse 
are  still  used  to  chop  straw  for  fodder. 

If,  therefore,  as  far  as  Europe  is  concerned,  the  ex- 
clusive use  of  stone  may  serve  to  characterise  an  extremely 
remote  period,  the  case  is  different  when  instruments  of 
metal  are  found  in  company  with  stone  implements.  Thus, 
when  M.  Moura,  who  represented  the  French  interests  at 
the  court  of  the  King  of  Camboja,  discovered  axes  of 
polished  stone  among  the  strata  of  that  country,  the  pre- 
sence of  wrought  copper  permitted  our  learned  colleague 
Dr.  Noulet  to  consider  these  implements  as  marking  the 
transition  between  the  neoKthic  and  bronze  ages.'  The 
same  inferences  are  naturally  drawn  on  the  several  oc- 
casions when  the  simultaneous  use  of  stone  and  metal 
has  been  found  in  Europe. 

It  is  therefore  indispensable,  before  pronouncing  an 
opinion  as  to  the  real  age  of  a  flint  implement,  to  be 
thoroughly  acquainted  not  only  with  the  place  where  it 
was  found,  but  also  with  all  the  circumstances  which 
attended  its  discovery.     Moreover,  the  use  of  iron  is  not 

'  Dr.  Noulet,  VArje  de  la  pierrc  j^olie  an,  Canthodge,  d/ajj?'i'S  lei 
deoourertes  de  M.  Moura,  lieutenant  de  vauseau,  Toulouse,  1877. 


DURATION   OF   THE  STOxNE  AND   BRONZE   EPOCHS.      25 

necessarily  prcctHled  by  that  of  bronze  and  copper  (Xortliern 
Tartary,  and  Finland,  are  cases  in  point),  and  similarly 
copper  and  bronze  may  have  been  long  in  use  among  a 
people  (such  as  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians),  to  the 
almost  total  exclusion  of  iron.  As  for  the  use  of  stone, 
unless  it  be  exclusive,  it  does  not,  as  we  have  just  seen, 
imply  any  very  marked  social  inferiority,  still  less  any 
definite  degree  of  antiquity. 

Nevertheless  some  authors  have  attempted  to  establish 
precise  dates,  assigning  5,000,  or  7,000  years,  as  the  most 
remote  Hmit  of  the  stone  age  ;  3,000,  or  4,000  years,  as 
that  of  the  age  of  bronze ;  while  the  iron  age  would  only 
have  a  duration  of  2,000  years.^ 

It  is  needless  to  point  out  that,  so  far,  no  proofs  are 
forthcoming  in  support  of  these  assertions,  and  that  every 
well-balanced  mind  should  be  on  its  guard  against  such 
precision,  not  to  say  audacity,  of  statement,  since  in  the 
present  state  of  science  it  is  absolutely  impossible  that  it 
can  be  trustworthy.  We  will  therefore  continue  to 
employ  this  entirely  relative  or  mineralogic  chronology, 
until  a  better  one  is  satisfoctorily  determiiaed  ;  taking 
especial  care  not  to  neglect  the  valuable  data  which 
palaeontology,  stratigraphy,  and  all  industrial  progress  may 
furnish  us.  We  must  also  remember  that  all  the  divi- 
sions we  have  established,  of  which  the  rigorous  application 
is  hardly  admissible,  even  as  far  as  Europe  is  concerned, 
cannot  be  applied  with  any  certainty  to  America,  Africa, 
or  Australia.  Indeed  numerous  facts  which  have  been 
observed  in  America,  tend  to  prove  that  it  is  not  necessary 
for  the  complete  social  development  of  a  people  that  it 
should  pass  successively  through  the  three  ages  of  stone, 
bronze,  and  iron. 

As  a  summary  of  the  preceding  remarks,  we  may 
present  them  in  a  synoptic  form. 

»  According  to  Count  Gozzadini,  it  appears  nearly  certain  that,  if 
the  use  of  ircn  only  bec^an  in  Scandinavia  towards  the  be^nnniii.^of  the 
Christian  era,  the  metal  was  employed  at  Villauova  and  Marzaboito  at 
least  a^  early  as  15U0  u.c. 


26  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

MiNERALOGIC    CHRONOLOGY. 
Ages. 

/  Flints    simply    chipped    (palseo-  or    archffiolithic  age  of 
Stone.    ]      Lubbock'), 

^Polished  Flints  (neolithic  age,  id.) 

I  Completely    transitory,     and    apparently    accidental    in 
Copper,  j      Europe. 

i  More  real  and  permanent  in  America. 
Bronze.    Common  to  the  two  continents,  but  at  different  epochs. 

f  Comparatively  recent  in  America  and  Scandinavia,  more 
iron.      ^     remote  in  Italy  and  the  rest  of  Eui-ope. 


Saint-Achbul  Type.    Axe,  carved  on  both  sides. 
Fig.  4.  Front  view.  Fig.  5.  Side  view. 

M.  de  Mortillet  has  proposed  to  substitute  for  this 
chronology,  which  is  altogether  mineralogic,  another 
founded  solely  upon  the  relative  skill  shown  in  the  work- 
manship of  the  flints.  Setting  aside  for  the  moment  the 
flints  of  Saint-Prest  and  of  the  calcareous  beds  of  Beauce, 
of  which  we  shall  speak  presently,  we  give  the  following 
chronology,  which  we  may  call  industrial : 

1.  The  Saint-Acheul  epoch,  the  oldest  of  the  qua- 
ternary beds,  characterised  by  its  amygdaloid  or  almond 
shaped  axes  (figs.  4  and  5). 

•  Evans  subdivides  tlic  neolithic  age  into  two  periods ;  that  of  i-iver 
ffvavd,  and  that  uf  the  cdres. 


CARVED   FLINTS. 


27 


2.  The  IMoustier  epoeli,  with  its  scrapers,  and  triangular 
lance  heads,  worked  only  on  one  side  (tigs.  6,  7,  and  8), 


MousTiER  Type.    Lance  head,  carved  only  on  one  side. 
Fig.  6.  Uncut  surface.  FiG.  7.  Side  view.  FiG.  8.  Carved  surface. 

3.  The  Solutre  epoch,  with  its  beautiful  arrow-heads 
cut  in  the  form  of  laurel  leaves  (tig.  9). 


Fio.  9.  SoT.iTRE  Type.     Lance  head. 


4.  The  INIadelaine  epoch,  in  which  bone  implements 
and  weapons  are  found  with  those  of  stone. 

5.  The  Kobeuhausen  epoch,  or  that  of  polished  stone. 


28 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   RACE. 


These  divisions  are  worth  consulting,  for  they  are  use- 
ful landmarks  in  this  long  series  of  centuries  which  must 
have  elapsed  between  the  earliest  traces  of  human  industry 
and  the  age  of  bronze  properly  so  called. 

Unfortunately,  in  this  case  also,  the  authors  who  have 
paid  most  attention  to  this  subject  are  far  from  being 
agreed ;  and  the  determination  of  the  limits  and  nature  of 
prehistoric  epochs  is  at  present  characterised  by  a  certain 
vagueness  which  future  discoveries  and  comparisons  will 
doubtless  help  to  dissipate. 

Professor  Broca,  by  turning  to  account  the  data  fur- 
nished at  once  by  stratigraphy,  palaeontology,  and  archaeo- 
logy, has  already  been  able  to  establish  among  the  data  in 
question  a  certain  agreement  or  concordance,  of  which  the 
following  table  may  serve  to  show  the  importance  and 
appropriateness. 

Peehistoeic  Cheonology  ov  the  Quateenaey  Epoch. 


Stratigraphical 

Palaeontological 

ArcliEeological 

Data 

Data 

Data 

r^         , 

/Low     levels 

Age     of     the 

Age  of  carved  stone 

§ 
^ 

of     undis- 

mammoth 

or      archteolithic 

turbed  val- 

age: axe  of  Saint- 

t^J 

ArchaiolithiCj 

leys 

Acheuh 

S      1 

j3 

period 

Mean  levels 

Id.      interme- 

Arrow     head      of 

'S 

diate 

Moustier 

"cS 

High  levels 

Id.  of.  the  rein- 

Id. of  Solutre 

3^ 

deer 

Neolithic  period 

Recent  beds 

Modej-n  fauna 

Polished  axe 

Age  of  bronze 
Age  of  iron 

Metallic  period     - 

J5 

'' 

It  was  for  some  time  generally  believed  that  the  age 
of  stone  was  confined  to  northern  Europe.  It  is  now  es- 
tablished beyond  dispute  that  every  part  of  this  continent 
at  one  time  employed  carved  flints  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
metal,  and  that  the  age  in  question  has  been  more  or  less 
fully  represented, at  different  times, not  only  in  Scandinavia, 
but  also    in  Finland,  Germany,  France,  Italy,  England 


PALAEOLITHIC   AND   NKOLITIIIC   AGES.  29 

Belgium,  Syria,  Palestine,  in  F.gypt,  China,  Japan,  in  India, 
and  even  in  America.  Finally,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  all  we  have  said  respecting  the  succession  of  the 
ditierent  ages  applies  almost  exclusively  to  Europe,  some- 
times exclusively  to  P' ranee. 

Certain  authors,  among  others  MM.  de  jNIortillet,  Car- 
tailhac,  and  Forel,  of  Lausanne,  have  asserted  that  there 
exists  an  immense  interval  between  the  palaeolithic  and 
neolithic  ages,  considered  from  the  three  points  of  view  of 
ethnology,  palipontology,  and  workmanship.  But  Isl.  Cazalis 
de  Fondouce  maintains  that  no  such  interval  exists.^  He 
holds  first,  with  M.  de  Quatrefages,  that  there  was  a  con- 
tinuity of  race  during  the  two  epochs,  and  that  a  great  part 
of  the  present  population  of  P^urope  is  descended  from 
those  prehistoric  men  whom  we  are  now  considering;  and 
he  maintains  that,  in  the  quaternary  fauna,  between  the 
ages  of  carved  and  of  polished  stone,  there  is  the  same 
continuity.  Successive  extinctions  have  taken  place,  clear- 
ances brought  about  gradually  in  the  lapse  of  time,  from 
the  disappearance  of  the  cave  bear  and  of  the  mammoth 
to  the  miofration  of  the  reindeer  and  of  the  musk  ox  to- 
wards  colder  climates  than  our  own  ;  but  the  animals  of  the 
neolithic  period,  and  even  those  of  modern  times,  are  the 
survivors  of  that  ancient  fauna  in  the  midst  of  which  dwelt 
the  men  of  Abbeville  and  Cro-Magnon.  The  quaternary 
flora,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  leads  us  to  precisely  the 
same  conclusions.  In  short,  everything  tends  to  show  that 
there  is  direct  filiation  between  the  rude  workmanship  of 
the  flint  of  Saint-Acheul,  and  the  skilled  workmanship  of 
the  flint  of  the  neolithic  age.  But  a  still  better  proof 
that  this  gap,  assumed  to  exist  by  certain  archaeologists,  is 
purely  imaginative,  is  to  be  found  in  the  recent  discovery 
of  a  deposit  which  presents  the  manifest  transition  between 
the  ages  of  splintered  and  of  polished  stone.  I  allude  to 
the  cave  of  Duruthy,  situated  near  Sorde  (Basses  Pyrenees), 
where  MM.  Lartet  and  Chaplain-Duparc  have  observed  '  a 
human  race,  associated  in  Perigord   with  the  mammoth, 

'  See  Cazalis  de  Fonlouce,  PiciTC  faillcit  at  Puitc  polic,  lanme  qui 
Mirait  cxistc  cntre  ccs  deux  dyes  ;  liivuc  d'Anihroj/oUiyiv,  1S74,  \k  031. 


30  THE   ANTIQL'ITY   OF  THE   HUMAN  RACE. 

the  lion,  and  the  reindeer,'  first  in  the  age  of  triangulai 
bone  arrow-heads  (Cro-Magnon),  then  in  that  characterised 
by  the  barbed  bone  arrow-heads,  and  representations  of 
animals  (La  Madelaine,  Laugerie  Basse),  and  which,  after 
manifesting  itself  in  the  fully  developed  artistic  phase  at 
the  bottom  of  the  cave  discovered  at  Sorde,  is  found  again 
towards  the  upper  part  of  the  same  cave,  with  flint  weapons, 
which  from  their  finished  form  and  rudimentary  pohsh 
might  almost  be  classed  in  the  age  of  polished  stone.^ 

In  conclusion ;  the  three  ages  of  stone,  bronze,  and  iron 
have  not  been  in  all  places  and  at  all  times  successive, 
but  very  often  simultaneous.  Though  they  mark  three 
stages  in  the  civilisation  of  nations,  it  does  not  follow  that 
all  have  passed  through  them  at  the  same  periods.  The 
chronological  value  of  these  ages  is  not  always  therefore 
absolute  and  general,  but  sometimes  purely  local  and 
relative.  Finally,  flint  implements  are  so  far  from  being 
themselves,  and  in  all  cases,  the  distinctive  marks  of  a 
very  remote  epoch,  that  many  tribes,  even  among  those 
to  whom  the  use  of  iron  is  known,  often  employ  stone  in 
preference  to  metal.  On  the  continent  of  Europe  the 
general  series  of  facts  has  everywhere  been  the  same,  but 
the  details,  the  particular  characters,  have  varied  accord- 
ing to  a  great  number  of  local  circumstances.  Though 
they  resemble  each  other,  there  is  not  always  perfect 
synchronism.  It  is  not  therefore  to  be  wondered  at,  if 
we  are  still,  as  regards  many  points,  reduced  to  mere  con- 
jecture and  hypothesis.  The  important  point  is  the 
establishment  of  the  principal  landmarks  ;  this  has  been 
already  done  more  or  less  successfully  ;  the  future  will 
decide  whether  it  is  necessary  to  displace  them. 

IV.    THE  GKEAT    ANTIQUITY  OF  MAN  PROVED   BY 
EGYPTIAN   MONUMENTS. 

Formerly  learned  men  regarded  the  famous  lists  of 
the  kings  of  Egypt,  drawn  up  by  Manetho,  as  apocryphal 
and  false,  lists  which  ascribed  an  extremely  remote  date 

»  Louis  Lartet  et  Chaplain  Duparc,  Une  scjmltiire  dcs  anciens  troglo' 
dytes  des  Pyrenees^  Paiis,  1874. 


ANCIENT  EGYrTTAN  CIVILIZATION.  31 

to  the  most  ancient  dynasties.  At  the  present  day  the 
curious  monuments  brouglit  to  h"ght  by  the  excavations  of 
JNl.  de  Mariette  have  shown  that  far  from  having  gone 
beyond  the  focts  of  history,  and  '  over-crowded  his  picture 
with  imaginary  Pharaohs'  (as  M.  Maury  has  happily 
expressed  it),  jNIanetho  has  omitted  several  whose  inscrip- 
tions and  devices  modern  Egyptian  scholars  can  read 
almost  as  easily  as  the  inscription  on  the  Pantheon  may 
be  read  in  Paris. 

It  is  no  longer  disputed  that  '  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile 
art  and  civilisation  date  from  a  time  anterior  to  all  history ; 
that  Egypt  was  from  the  beginning  cast  in  a  mould  which 
has  hardly  changed  with  ages,  and  which  the  foreign  con- 
querors who  succeeded  in  establishing  their  rule  in  the 
land  were  forced  to  respect.'  ^ 

The  development  of  this  idea,  which  strongly  supports 
our  own  theory,  forms  the  subject  of  a  learned  paper  by 
this  well-known  Academician,  with  which  the  readers  of 
the  '  Revue  des  deux  Mondes '  are  doubtless  acquainted. 
In  order  to  dissipate  every  legitimate  doubt  as  to  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  Egyptian  people,  and  of  their  civilisation 
and  their  arts,  it  is  not  necessary  to  cross  the  sea,  to  go  to 
Karnac  and  to  penetrate  into  its  temple,  four  times  as 
large  as  Notre  I)ame  in  Paris,  although  it  was  reserved 
exclusively  for  the  devotions  of  the  king.  It  was  enough 
to  visit  the  little  temple  of  Philse  in  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
where  the  rich  treasures  of  the  Egyptian  exhibition  (1867) 
were  displayed  to  the  eyes  of  all  nations.  Their  artistic 
beauty  and  richness,  and  above  all  the  art  displayed  in  the 
adorning  of  the  sepulchres,  were  very  remarkable.  This  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Nile,  ever  pre- 
occupied with  the  idea  of  a  future  life,  looked  upon  the 
tombs  '  as  their  true  abodes  throughout  eternity '  (Alfred 
Maury).  Here  were  exposed  coffins  in  the  form  of  mum- 
mies, entirely  covered  with  symbolic  figures  whose  colours 
have  resisted  the  ravages  of  time,  and  two  statues,  the  one 
of  diorite,  the  other  of  green  basalt,  representing  the  king 

•  Alfred  Maury,  L'ancicnne  Efjypte  (Vapres  les  dcrniercs  dccoiivcHcs ; 
Revue  des  dciu-  Muitdcs,  Sept.  1,  1807,  p.  183. 


32  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

Chafra  or  Chephren  (the  fourth  king  of  the  fourth  dynasty, 
and  the  builder  of  the  second  of  the  great  pyramids); 
statues  so  well  preserved,  one  of  them  especially,  that  they 
appear  to  be  '  fresh  from  the  hands  of  the  able  sculptor  by 
whom  they  were  carved  more  than  5,000  years  ago.' 

Art  does  not  attain  at  once  to  that  grace  of  line  and  truth 
of  expression  of  which  the  face  of  Pharaoh,  son  of  Ea,  the 
sun-god  (Chafra),  offers  us  an  example.  Side  by  side  with 
these  statues  of  the  king  Chafra  or  Schaffra  we  may  place 
the  wooden  statue  of  one  named  Ea-em-ke,  remarkable 
for  its  wonderful  state  of  preservation,  and  also  for  its 
beauty  as  a  work  of  art,  unsurpassed  by  any  of  the  Greeks, 
as  we  are  told  by  a  competent  judge.*  This  Ea-em-ke 
was  the  governor  of  a  province  during  the  fifth  dynasty, 
that  is  to  say,  about  a  century  later  than  king  Schaffra. 
Lastly,  the  door  of  the  great  pyramid  of  Sakkara,  now  one 
of  the  most  precious  treasures  of  the  Berlin  Museum, 
formed  part  of  a  monument,  w^hich,  if  it  were  really  built, 
as  it  is  generally  believed,  under  the  first  dynasty,^  has 
withstood  for  nearly  sixty-eight  centuries  the  destroying 
hand  of  man  and  of  time. 

'  Such  figures  terrify  the  imagination.  Forty-nine  cen- 
turies before  the  birth  of  Christ  is  a  great  age  for  a  work 
of  human  hands,  and  above  all,  for  a  true  work  of  art. 
Neither  India,  Asia,  nor  Assyria  have  any  relics  of  a  time 
which  approaches  so  nearly  to  the  origin  of  humanity. 
But  that  which  is  really  overwhelming  to  the  mind  is  to 
find  at  that  date,  not  savage  tribes,  but  a  powerfully  con- 
stituted society,  of  which  the  formation  must  hove  required 
the  lapse  of  centuries;  a  civilised  people  advanced  in  science 
and  art,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  mechanics,  capable  of 
raising  monuments  of  immense  size  and  of  indestructible 
solidity.'  ^ 

I  shall  only  mention  the  jewels  found  at  Thebes  on  the 
mummy  of  the  queen  Aah-hotep,  mother  of  king  Amosis, 

•  M.  Fr.  Lenormant. 
-  Under  King  Oriennephos,  4S05  r.c. 

'  F,  Lenormant,  L'Af/t'u/uitc  a  V Ewjnmtio/i  nniverselle:  Gazette  des 
Beaux-ArtSf  Sept.  I,  1807. 


EGYPTI.VN   ART.  33 

jewels  of  unequalled  finish  and  beauty,  although  they  date 
from  the  time  when  Joseph  became  the  minister  of  the 
then  reigning  Pharaoh.  Necklaces,  bracelets,  mirrors, 
and  sacred  axes  of  bronze,  carved  and  gilt,  a  richly  worked 
dagger,  enamelled  earthen  vases,  &c.,  all  these  works  of 
antique  art  excite  our  surprise  and  admiration.  *  Neither 
Greece  nor  Etruria,'  we  are  told  by  M.  Lenormant,  '  has 
produced  any  jewels  which  surpass  those  of  the  queen 
Aah-hotep  in  grandeur  of  conception,  in  elegance  and 
purity  of  form,  or  in  beauty  of  w^orkmanship.  But  imagi- 
nation is  confounded  at  the  thought  that  these  ornaments, 
which  reveal  such  a  high  degree  of  artistic  culture,  such 
wonderful  manual  skill  in  the  workmen,  are  the  product  of 
a  time  of  civil  trouble  and  of  war,  when  Egypt  was  pain- 
fully emerging  from  a  long-continued  struggle  with  a  horde 
of  barbarians  (hyltsos  or  shepherd  kings)  whose  invasion 
had  covered  her  land  with  ruins.' 

It  is  time  to  conclude,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  no- 
ticing two  other  objects  in  a  wonderful  state  of  preservation 
which  were  exposed  in  the  collection  of  M.  Mariette.  Here 
again  M.  Lenormant  shall  speak  for  us.  '  The  graceful 
wooden  spoon,  which  represents  a  young  Nubian  girl  swim- 
ming and  pushing  an  oval  basin  before  her  on  the  surface 
of  the  water,  is  of  the  time  of  Moses.  With  a  little 
imagination  we  might  almost  believe  that  it  lay  on  the 
table  of  Pharaoh's  daughter.  This  charming  little  basket, 
with  a  cover  woven  of  parti-coloured  cane,  and  admirably 
preserved,  which  one  of  our  own  ladies  might  use  as  a 
work-basket,  was  found  at  Thebes  in  a  tomb  of  the  eleventh 
dynasty.  It  is  therefore  two  centuries  older  than  Abraham. 
Many  centuries  must  have  elapsed  before  such  a  degree  of 
perfection  was  attained,  and  we  are,  indeed,  far  removed 
from  the  first  attempts  at  sculpture  which  have  been  dug 
out  of  the  caverns  of  Languedoc  and  Perigurd.  Yet  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Egyptian  art,  so  perfect  under  the 
reign  of  Chephren  and  his  successors,  began  by  equally 
rude  attempts.  But  from  what  remote  age  they  date,  or 
what  were  the  names  of  those  earlier  artists,  we  know  as 


34  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

little  as  W6  know  who  were  the  sculptors  whose  rhisel 
created  the  sphinx  and  the  statues  of  the  kings.' 

We  must  add  that  in  the  remote  epochs  of  which  we 
are  speaking,  the  Egyptian  tongue  was  already  formed, 
and  possessed  a  written  character.  The  greater  number 
of  our  domestic  animals  were  bred  by  the  Egyptians,  and 
distinct  and  long  established  breeds  were  known  to  them 
(greyhounds,  lop-eared  goats,  &c.).  No  one  can  tell  with 
certainty  the  number  of  centuries  they  must  have  passed 
through  before  attaining  to  so  complex  a  civilisation. 
The  whole  history  of  Egypt  confirms  our  belief  in  the 
immense  antiquity  of  the  human  race. 

We  pass  on  now  to  compare  the  remains  of  primitive 
industry  preserved  in  the  diluvian  gravel  of  the  valleys  or 
the  sediment  of  the  bone  caves  with  the  works  of  Egyptian 
art.  We  must  study  the  flints  and  the  lesson  to  be  drawn 
from  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE    WORK  OF  BOUCHER  DE  PERTHES, 

I.    THE    SPLINTERED    FLINTS    OF    ABBEVILLE. 

To  the  history  of  the  diluvium  a  discovery  belongs  which, 
though  insiguificant  in  appearance,  is  in  reality  of  the 
utmost  importance  from  its  bearing  upon  primitive  in- 
dustry :  I  allude  to  the  flints,  sometimes  merely  chipped 
into  shape,  sometimes  carefully  polished,  found  in  such 
abundance  and  in  such  widely  distant  parts  of  the  earth, 
from  Paris  to  Nineveh,  from  China  to  Camboja,  from 
Greenland  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Although  the  true 
nature  of  these  flints  has  not  been  made  known  to  us  for 
more  than  forty  years,  the  ancients  knew^  of  their  existence, 
and,  at  least  to  those  that  were  polished,  they  gave  the 
strange  names  of  lapides  fulminis,  ceraunice  gemmcey 
which  expressed  the  strange  notion  that  they  had  fallen 
from  the  skies  with  the  thunderclap,  or  were  formed  in 
the  earth  by  the  fire  of  Jove.  They  afterwards  came  to  be 
looked  upon  as  '  freaks  of  nature  '  (lusus  naturce)  :  as  early 
as  1734,  Mahudel,  and  after  him  Mercati,  ventured  to  say 
that  they  were  the  weapons  of  antediluvian  man,  but  this 
bold  assertion  was  received  with  ridicule  and  incredulity. 

Buffon  in  1778,  in  his  '  Epoques  de  la  Nature,'  afiirmed 
again  that  the  first  men  began  by  sharpening  into  the 
form  of  axes  these  hard  flints,  jades,  or  thunder-bolts, 
which  were  believed  to  have  fallen  from  the  clouds  and  to 
be  formed  by  the  thunder,  but  which,  said  he,  '  are  merely 
the  first  monuments  of  the  art  of  man  in  a  state  of  nature.' 
This  just  theory  passed  unnoticcHi  at  the  time,  but.  all 
scientific   men  are   now  agreed   upon  its  truth.     But  it 


36  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

is  to  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  that  the  honour  belongs  of 
having  dispersed  all  doubts  and  inspired  conviction.  From 
the  year  1836  to  1841  he  made  researches,  pickaxe  in 
hand,  among  the  ancient  tombs,  the  caves,  the  peat 
mosses,  the  diluvium  of  the  valleys  and  of  the  bone 
caves,  and  collected  thence  flints  of  a  remarkable  form, 
more  or  less  sharpened  at  the  edges,  presenting  a  number 
of  unequal  facets,  and  shaped  like  axes  or  knives.  The 
origin  of  these  chipped  stones  and  the  strata  to  which 
they  rightly  belong  form  the  subject  of  a  series  of  in- 
genious inductions,  and  of  prophetic  remarks  which  the 
event  soon  justified.  I  leave  the  author  to  speak  for 
himself: 

'  The  yellowish  tinge  of  some  of  these  chipped  stones 
of  the  diluvium  was  a  first  indication.  This  tinge  was 
not  that  of  the  flint  itself,  but  was  entirely  superficial,- 
whence  I  concluded  it  was  due  to  the  ferruginous  nature 
of  the  soil  with  which  the  stone  had  come  in  contact. 
A  certain  layer  of  the  diluvium  fulfilled  this  condition ; 
the  shade  of  colour  was  precisely  that  of  my  axes.  They 
had  been  imbedded  in  it,  but  the  question  remained 
whether  their  presence  there  was  the  effect  of  a  recent 
revolution,  and  later  displacement,  or  if  it  dated  from  the 
formation  of  the  bed.  If  the  axe  was  in  the  bed  from  its 
beginning  the  problem  was  solved ;  the  man  who  had 
made  the  implement  was  anterior  to  the  cataclysm  to 
which  the  deposit  owed  its  formation.  In  this  case  there 
is  no  possibility  for  doubt ;  for  the  diluvian  deposits  do  not, 
like  the  peat-bogs,  present  an  elastic  and  permeable  mass, 
nor  a  gaping  chasm  like  the  bone  caves,  open  to  every 
comer,  and  which  have  for  centuries  served  as  a  shelter, 
and  then  as  a  tomb,  to  so  many  different  creatures ;  in 
such  a  mixture  of  all  ages,  in  this  neutral  bed,  a  species 
of  caravanserai  for  past  generations,  it  is  impossible  to 
characterise  the  different  epochs. 

« In  the  diluvian  formations,  on  the  contrary,  each 
period  is  sharply  defined.  The  horizontally  disposed 
layers,  the  strata  differing  in  colour  and  substance, 
show  us  the  history  of  the  past  in  clear  characters  :  the 


DISCOVERIES   OF  BOUCHER  DE  PERTHES.  37 

great  convulsions  of  nature  seem  to  be  traced  upon  them 
by  the  finger  of  God. 

*  Here  the  proofs  begin  ;  and  tlioy  cannot  be  gain- 
said, if  this  work  of  human  hands,  of  which  I  said,  "  It  is 
there,"  has  remained  there  from  the  first.  As  irremovable 
as  the  bed  itself,  it  came  with  it,  and  has  there  remained, 
and  since  it  has  aided  in  its  formation,  it  had  a  prior 
existence.' ' 

This  work  of  human  hands,  to  which  iM.  Boucher  de 
Perthes  was  devoting  all  his  efforts,  was  '  those  rude  stones 
which  in  their  imperfection  prove  the  existence  of  man  no 
less  surely  than  such  a  building  as  the  Louvre  itself  could 
have  done.' 

He  had  found  the  proofs  which  he  sought  so  eagerly, 
and  in  1839  he  brought  them  from  Abbeville  to  Paris  :  but 
the  axes  and  knives  of  the  diluvium  excited  the  ridicule  of 
geologists,  and  inspired  them  with  doubts  as  to  the  sanity 
of  the  man  of  genius  who  came  with  a  candour  which 
does  him  honour,  to  submit  his  discoveries  to  those  who 
could  not  understand  him.  They  were  afraid  of  these 
stones,  whose  language,  as  interpreted  by  M.  Boucher  de 
Perthes,  concealed,  as  they  thought,  some  heresy  or  mysti- 
fication ;  and  for  a  time  the  flints  of  Abbeville  were  con- 
demned to  ridicule  or  oblivion.  But  fortunately,  as  it 
nearly  always  happens,  truth,  long  unrecognised,  ended 
by  overcoming  the  systematic  resistance,  the  absiurd  preju- 
dices, and  the  presumptuous  incredulity  of  its  opponents. 
They  consented  at  last  to  examine  the  discoveries,  and 
thenceforward  doubt  became  impossible.  They  had  under 
their  eyes  the  manifest  proof  of  human  workmanship  of  a 
much  earlier  date  than  the  earliest  traditions,  or  than  the 
monuments  which  the  most  remote  antiquity  has  left  us. 

In  spite  of  the  evidence  of  proofs,  the  question  was 
not  generally  considered  to  be  resolved;  objections  poured 
in  from  every  quarter.  Some  maintained  that  these 
fractured  flints  were  not  of  human  workmanship ;  that 
they  were  of  volcanic  origin  ;  melted  by  intense  heat,  and 

'  Boucher  de  Perthes,  De  Vliomme  antcdlluvicn  et  de  scs  oemTes,]).  3, 
Paris,  1 860. 


38  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN  KACE. 

thrown  up  into  space  from  the  crater,  they  fell  back  into 
the  water  in  the  form  of  a  vitrified  glass.  Others  attributed 
them  to  the  action  of  frost,  which  had  split  the  flints 
so  adroitly  as  to  cause  them  to  take  the  form  of  axes 
and  knives.  The  means  by  which  they  were  introduced 
into  the  diluvian  beds  was  easily  explained  by  the  assertion 
that  the  workmen  employed  in  the  excavations  had  placed 
them  there.  Some  even  went  so  far  as  to  maintain  that 
these  axes  had  penetrated  the  upper  layers  in  virtue  of 
their  own  weight,  as  if  the  beds  in  which  they  are  found 
were  sufficiently  permeable  ever  to  have  allowed  of  such 
infiltration. 

Some  well-known  geologists  asserted  that  these  de- 
posits were  of  recent  origin,  or  at  least  but  little  earlier  than 
the  arrival  of  the  Eomans  in  Gaul.  Others,  considering 
them  to  belong  to  the  quaternary  epoch,  that  is,  to  a  pre- 
historic period,  have  maintained  the  opinion,  unsupported 
by  any  adequate  proof,  that  these  strata  have  been  dis- 
turbed by  man ;  that  is,  that  their  original  position  has 
been  changed  long  after  their  formation.  Others  again 
asserted  that  these  chipped  stones  were  merely  gunflints  : 
'  a  remarkable  statement,'  said  a  critic,  with  a  spice  of 
malice,  '  which  proves  that  its  authors  were  very  certainly 
not  the  inventors  of  gunpowder.' 

Indeed  these  objections  are  not  serious,  and  it  seems 
astonishing  that  they  can  have  been  seriously  made  by 
their  authors.  The  first,  which  attributes  the  origin  of 
the  flints  to  volcanic  action,  may  be  classed  with  the 
ancient  notion  which  attributed  to  Jove  the  origin  of 
the  lapides  fulminis,  of  the  ceraunice  gennmce.  The 
second,  which  explains  the  origin  of  these  same  flints  by 
the  action  of  frost,  is  no  explanation  at  all.  To  admit  the 
third,  we  must  admit  also  the  most  complete  under- 
standing among  the  workmen  of  every  country,  and  these 
are  not  a  few,  where  artificially  shaped  stones  have  been 
found  in  the  diluvium.  The  fourth  objection,  asserting 
that  the  stones  deposited  on  the  surfaces  of  the  diluvian 
beds  have  by  their  own  weight  buried  themselves  in  them, 
is  sufficiently  refuted  by  its  own  absurdity. 


ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  BONES.  39 

There  remains,  then,  only  the  assertion  of  those  who 
hold  that  the  dikivian  strata,  disphiced  after  their  forma- 
tion, received  at  a  comparatively  recent  epoch  the  axes 
and  knives  which  they  contain.  But  as  M.  Boucher 
de  Perthes  reasonably  demands,  by  w^hom  were  they  dis- 
placed ?  Not  by  man,  for  the  w^iole  population  of  Gaul 
would  not  have  sufficed  for  the  task,  even  if  the  diluvium 
of  Abbeville  were  alone  in  question.  The  utter  im- 
possibility of  such  a  displacement  is  made  manifest  when 
we  consider  that  the  same  phenomenon,  that  is,  the  pre- 
sence of  hewn  flints,  has  been  observed  in  the  same 
situations  and  in  identical  circumstances  in  all  quarters  of 
the  globe. 

Moreover,  the  bones  of  extinct  animals,  of  fossil  ani- 
mals in  the  sense  which  Cuvier  himself  attached  to  the 
word,  are  nearly  always  found  with  the  flints  in  question. 
Such  are  the  Elephas  pi^imigenius,  the  Rhinoceros  ticho- 
rkinuSy  &c.  Again,  a  whole  limb  of  the  Rhinoceros  hccmi- 
toechus  was  found  at  Menchecourt,  of  which  the  different 
bones  were  still,  as  it  were,  articulated  and  placed  each  in 
the  position  which  they  had  occupied  during  life.  Cer- 
tainly, if,  as  it  must  be  admitted,  this  limb  had  occupied 
undisturbed  for  thousands  of  years  its  original  position  in 
the  gravelly  bed  where  it  was  found,  it  is  impossible  still  to 
deny  that  the  hewn  flints  lying  beside  it  were  contempo- 
raneous with  it. 

Many  other  similar  or  analogous  facts  have  been 
observed.  However,  it  must  be  owned  that  we  cannot 
conclude  with  absolute  certainty  that  they  are  of  the  same 
date  from  the  fact  that  the  flints  are  frequently  found  in 
company  with  the  bones  of  extinct  species.  It  is  just 
possible  that  violent  currents  had  borne  along  in  their 
course  and  mingled  together  the  debris  of  very  different 
epochs.  But  doubt  would  be  no  longer  possible  if  unequi- 
vocal traces  of  human  workmanship  were  discovered  upon 
the  bones  found  buried  in  the  same  beds  with  the  flints. 

Our  learned  colleague,  however,  M.  Ed.  Lartet  saw, 
and  many  others  have  since  seen,  incisions  made  by  a  sharp 
instrument,  probably  a  flint  knife,  upon  the  bones  of  the 


40  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

rhinoceros,  and  upon  the  antlers  of  stags  of  extinct  species 
which  were  found  in  all  the  diluvian  beds  of  the  valley  of 
the  Somme.  Similar  examples  have  since  been  repeatedly 
remarked,  and  there  is  no  tolerably  complete  collection 
which  does  not  contain  flint  implements  found  in  company 
with  the  antlers  and  bones  of  extinct  animals,  bearing  the 
marks  of  the  teeth  of  saws  or  of  incisions  made  in  order  to 
detach  the  skin  from  them,  to  separate  them  from  the 
skull,  or  to  divide  them  into  fragments  of  a  convenient 
size. 

We  may  conclude  then,  that  the  flints  of  the  diluvium 
of  Picardy  are  the  productions  of  human  art,  proving  that 
the  man  of  Abbeville  lived  at  the  same  time  as  the  mam- 
moth and  the  Rhinoceros  hceTnitwchus,  that  is  to  say,  at  an 
altogether  prehistoric  period.  At  that  time  the  bed  of  the 
Somme  was  60  ft.  higher  than  its  present  level ;  the 
river  had  not  then  hollowed  out  the  valley  in  which  it 
now  flows.  England  was  not  separated  from  France  by 
the  Straits  of  Dover  at  the  epoch  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing; and  supposing  London  and  Abbeville  to  have  been 
then  in  existence,  the  traveller  might  have  gone  from 
one  town  to  the  other  on  foot.  The  Khine  valley  stretched 
away  to  the  northward  across  the  plains  not  yet  sub- 
merged beneath  the  German  Ocean,  and  received  the 
tributary  waters  of  the  Humber,  the  Tweed,  and  the 
Thames,  whose  streams  were  fuller  and  more  rapid  than 
they  are  in  our  day.  The  Ehine  and  the  Ehone,  abun- 
dantly fed  from  the  same  source,  hollowed  their  vast  beds, 
bearing  along  in  their  currents  the  debris  of  the  con- 
temporary fauna,  and  burying  with  them  the  stone  im- 
plements of  our  European  ancestors  in  the  fresh  deposits 
which  they  formed. 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  important  results  ob- 
tained by  the  patient  researches  of  M.  Boucher  de  Per- 
thes, the  Institute,  for  more  than  fifteen  years,  regarded 
with  the  most  complete  indifference  the  discoveries  of 
the  learned  antiquary  of  the  Somme.  Finally,  however, 
its  members  were  obliged  by  the  force  of  circumstances  to 
cast  a  more  or  less  contemptuous  glance  upon  these  dis- 


CONTROVERSY   RESPECTING   Till-:   ST.-ACREUL   FLINTS.  41 

coverios.  A  paper '  written  by  Dr.  Eiirollot,  at  first  the 
declared  adversary,  but  afterwards  the  warm  partisan  of  the 
theories  of  Boucher  de  Perthes,  drew  the  attention  of  the 
first  scientific  body  in  France  to  the  'Antiquites  Dilu- 
viennes,'  a  book  which  contains,  it  is  true,  many  daring 
conjectures,  but  at  the  same  time  a  number  of  convincing 
facts,  ingenious  theories,  and  unanswerable  arguments. 

As  the  author  says,  '  this  attention  was  not  kindly. 
A  purely  geological  question  was  made  the  subject  of 
religious  controversy.  Those  who  threw  no  doubt  upon 
my  religion  accused  me  of  rashness  :  an  unknown  archaeolo- 
gist, a  geologist  without  a  diploma,  I  was  aspiring,  they  said, 
to  overthrow  a  whole  system  confirmed  by  long  experience 
and  adopted  by  so  many  distinguished  men.  They  declared 
that  this  was  a  strange  presumption  on  my  part.  Strange, 
indeed  ;  but  I  had  not  then,  and  I  never  have  had,  any 
such  intentions.  I  revealed  a  fact ;  consequences  were 
deduced  from  it,  but  I  had  not  made  them.  Truth  is 
no  man's  work ;  she  was  created  before  us  and  is  older 
than  the  world  itself;  often  sought,  more  often  repulsed, 
we  find,  but  do  not  invent  her.  Sometimes  too  we  seek 
her  wrongly,  for  truth  is  to  be  found  not  only  in  books ;  she 
is  everywhere  ;  in  the  water,  in  the  air,  on  the  earth ;  we 
cannot  make  a  step  without  meeting  her,  and  when  we  do 
not  perceive  her  it  is  because  we  shut  our  eyes  or  turn 
away  our  head.  It  is  our  prejudices  or  our  ignorance 
which  prevent  us  from  seeing  her,  from  touching  her. 
If  we  do  not  see  her  to-day,  we  shall  see  her  to-morrow ; 
for  strive  as  we  may  to  avoid  her,  she  will  appear  when 
the  time  is  ripe.  Happy  the  man  who  is  prepared  to 
greet  her,  and  to  say  to  the  passers-by.  Behold  her  ! '  ^ 

As  the  Institute  of  France  had  so  long  refused  to  listen 
or  to  believe,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  the  public  re- 
mained indifferent  or  incredulous,  and  that  as  late  as  1853 
M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  was  still  asked  how  it  was  that 

'  Dr.  Ripfollot,  Mi'mmre  mr  Ics  instruments  en  sik'x  trouvcs  a  Saint- 
Acheul,  Amiens,  1851. 

-  Boucher  de  Perthes,  De  Vhomme  antcdiluvien  et  de  8e»  opuvre$t 
p.  13,  Paris,  1860. 


42  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

his  pretended  antediluAdan  axes  and  knives  were  only  to 
be  found  in  the  gravel  beds  of  the  valley  of  the  Somme ; 
how  it  happened  that  he  alone  had  found  any  such  ? 
Numerous  facts  gave  a  prompt  reply  to  these  questions, 
of  which  the  contempt  and  incredulity  were  ill-disguised. 
Others  were  sought  for  and  were  found,  indeed,  had  already 
been  almost  unconsciously  found. 

In  fact,  without  going  back  to  the  precise  details 
which  antiquity  has  furnished  us  respecting  the  flints 
called  thunder-bolts,  there  is  in  the  British  Museum  a 
stone  weapon,  found  by  Conyers,  as  the  label  tells  us, 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  with  an  elephant's 
tooth,  near  Gruyes.  This  weapon,  which,  according  to 
Evans,  is  rudely  sketched  in  a  letter  on  the  antiquities 
of  London,  dated  1715,  is  the  exact  reproduction  of  the 
flint  lance  heads  so  common  in  the  diluvian  beds  of  Abbe- 
ville and  Saint-Acheul. 

A  century  later  than  Conyers,  in  1800,  John  Frere  found 
in  a  gravel  quarry  at  Hoxne,  in  Suffolk,  flint  tools  of  the 
same  type  as  those  since  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Somme, 
and  like  them,  intermixed  with  bones  of  extinct  elephants 
and  rhinoceros.  Similar  discoveries  have  since  been  made 
in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Thus  in  this  case  also, 
truth,  long  denied  and  banished,  has  overcome  systematic 
and  contemptuous  incredulity,  and,  at  the  moment  I  write 
these  lines,  there  is  no  scientific  man  who  is  not  convinced 
that  the  most  rudely  shaped  flints  show  human  workman- 
ship as  clearly  as  the  axes  of  the  Eoman  lictors  :  for  '  the 
flints  speak,'  says  Lubbock.  We  have  heard  and  have  still 
more  to  hear  of  what  they  have  to  tell  us. 

II.    DISCOVERY   OF    THE    JA^WBONE    OF    MOULIN- 
QUIGNOJSr. 

On  March  23,  1863  (we  are  careful  to  give  this  me- 
morable date),  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  was  gratified  by 
the  discovery,  at  IMoulin-Quignon,  of  the  famous  jaw- 
bone, or  rather  the  part  of  a  human  jawbone,  which 
became  the  subject  of  so  much  controversy.  It  lay  im- 
bedded about  five  yards  deep  in  dark  sandy  gravel,  the 


JAWBONE   OF  MOULIN-QUIGNOX.  43 

colour  of  which  was  due  to  an  admixture  of  marigauese 
and  oxide  of  iron,  and  which  was  in  immediate  contact 
with  the  subjacent  chalk.  The  same  bed  contained  carved 
flint,  axes  of  the  Saint-Acheul  type,  and  teeth  of  the 
mannnoth  {Elephds  primi(jenius).  On  April  24,  in  the 
same  year,  M.  de  Quatrefages  made  known  this  discovery 
in  the  author's  name  to  the  members  of  the  Institute, 
proclaiming  it  to  be  '  one  of  the  most  important  which 
could  be  made  in  natural  science.'     (See  fig.  10.) 

All  the  newspapers,  not  only  the  scientific  journals, 
but  also  the  political  organs,  vied  with '  each  other  in 
spreading  the  news  of  the  discovery ;  and  it  was  indeed 


Fig.  10.  Jawbone  of  Mouli^^-i^lig-non. 

a  memorable  event.  Following  the  example  of  M.  de 
Quatrefages,  who  had  been  one  of  the  first  to  visit  Abbe- 
ville to  inspect  the  place  of  this  important  discovery, 
and  to  enquire  into  all  the  accompanying  circumstances, 
several  English  savants,  whose  names  are  justly  cele- 
brated (Evans,  P^dconer,  Prestwich,  all  members  of  the 
Royal  Society,  who  had  already  visited  Abbeville  in 
1859),  again  visited  France,  and  having  entered  at  once 
upon  a  strict  and  conscientious  enquiry  into  the  alleged 
facts,  they  began  to  entertain  doubts  as  to  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  jawbone,  and  to  suspect  that  it  might  have 
been  fraudulently  introduced  by  the  workmen  into  the 
bed  where  it  was  found.  P'ar  from  denying  in  a  general 
way  the  great  antiquity  of  the  human  race,  these  men  of 
science  had  more  than  once  brought  proofs  in  its  favoiu: 


44  TEE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

but  in  the  present  case  they  did  not  feel  absolutely  con- ' 
vinced,  and  they  said  so  honestly. 

Their  doubts  were  principally  due  to  the  close  resem- 
blance which  this  jawbone  bears,  physically  and  anato- 
mically, to  other  inferior  maxillaries  belonging  to  members 
of  races  now  in  existence.  Prompted  by  the  desire  of  dis- 
pelling such  doubts,  and  of  resolving  at  once  and  for 
all  the  important  question  in  debate,  M.  de  Quatrefages 
proposed  that  a  kind  of  congress  should  be  held,  at 
which,  after  having  seen  and  handled  the  subject  of  dis- 
pute, English  and  French  men  of  science  should  discuss 
together  the  difficult  or  disputed  points  and  then  draw 
their  conclusions. 

In  accordance  with  this  suggestion,  Messrs.  Busk, 
Carpenter,  Falconer,  and  Prestwich  went  to  Abbeville. 
Among  the  French  savants  were  MM.  Milne-Edwards, 
de  Quatrefages,  Desnoyers,  Del  esse,  Lartet,  Daubree, 
Delafosse,  Hebert,  Albert  Gaudry,  P.  Bert,  Alph.  Milne- 
Edwards,  de  Vibraye,  Dr.  Vaillant,  I'Abbe  Bourgeois, 
Dr.  Garrigou,  &c.  M.  H.  Milne-Edwards  was  chosen 
president  of  the  congTess.  After  the  facts  had  been 
examined  and  discussed,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that 
the  axes  and  the  jawbone  of  Moulin-Quignon  were  really 
authentic,  and  that  fraud  had  had  no  part  in  their  burial. 
However,  Messrs.  Busk  and  Falconer  still  desired  to  make 
some  reservations,  and  the  latter  requested  that  the 
following  declaration  should  be  annexed  to  the  report. 
'My  opinion  is  that  the  discovery  of  the  human  jaw- 
bone is  authentic,  but  that  neither  its  characteristics  nor 
the  conditions  under  which  it  was  found,  sufficiently  prove 
that  the  aforesaid  jawbone  is  of  very  great  antiquity.' 

Messrs.  H.  Milne-Edwards,  de  Quatrefages,  Lartet, 
Prestwich,  and  Carpenter,  on  the  other  hand,  remained 
firm  in  the  belief  that  this  human  relic  belonged  to  an 
extremely  remote  date.  M.  Pictet  of  Geneva,  and  the 
immense  majority  of  geologists,  both  French  and  foreign, 
embraced  this  opinion,  and  declared  that  the  man  of 
Moulin-Quignon  had  witnessed  the  geological  phenomenon 
which  had  deposited  the  beds  of  diluvian  gravel. 


CONGRESS  OF  SAVANTS   AT   ABBEVILLE.  45 

INIessrs.  Falconer  and  Busk  did  not  remain  long  uncon- 
vinced. One  dissentient  voice  was  raised,  however,  in  the 
midst  of  the  general  concord,  and  affirmed  in  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  at  Paris,  that  neither  the  axes  of  Moulin- 
Quignon,  nor  those  of  Mencliecourt,  and  of  Abbeville,  nor 
even  those  of  Grenelle  and  Clichy,  should  be  considered  as 
diluvian.  Subsequent  causes  had  imbedded  them  in 
these  strata,  which  had  been  disturbed  and  were  even 
comparatively  modern.  Therefore,  added  the  same  Aca- 
demician, a  great  authority  in  geological  questions,  it  is  a 
mistake  or  a  chimera  to  believe  that  man  was  the  con- 
temporary of  the  mammoth  or  the  diluvian  rhinoceros. 
This  incredulous,  or  at  least  exceedingly  cautious  Acade- 
mician, was  M.  Elie  de  Beaumont. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  can  oppose  to  this  well  known 
name  those  of  !MM.  Prestwich,  Lyell,  Lartet,  Des- 
noyers,  Graudry,  and  others,  who  all  maintained  that  the 
beds  of  Abbeville  and  of  Moulin-Quignon  belonged  to  the 
quaternary  epoch,  and  had  remained  undisturbed  from 
the  day  of  their  formation. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs,  and  the  '  trial  of  the  jaw- 
bone' seemed  to  be  at  an  end,  when  on  July  18,  1864, 
M.  de  Quatrefages  communicated  to  the  Academy  a  new 
Note,  in  which  he  announced  that  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes 
had  just  found,  in  the  district  of  Moulin-Quignon,  already 
so  famous,  a  second  jawbone,  a  skull,  and  other  human 
bones.  The  author  of  the  memorandum  insisted  upon  the 
identity  of  the  spot,  upon  the  precautions  taken  to  avoid 
deception,  and  he  declared  himself  to  be  as  before,  abso- 
lutely convinced  of  the  authenticity  of  these  remains. 
The  learned  Academician  left  it  to  geologists  to  determine 
the  age  of  the  beds  whence  they  were  taken,  and  also  the 
antiquity  of  the  human  race  buried  therein. 

The  question  now  appeared  to  be  definitively  settled, 
for  so  many  minute  precautions,  such  a  careful  examina- 
tion, such  learned  consultations,  with  names  so  justly  re- 
spected, seemed  to  be  a  guarantee  of  the  truth  which  was 
above  the  least  suspicion.  Yet  it  was  whispered,  and  even 
audibly  spoken  in  certain  circles  which  profess  to  be  well 


46 


THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE   HUMAN   RACE. 


informed,  that  the  members  of  the  Congress  of  Abbeville 
were  the  victims  of  a  monstrous  fraud,  and  Evans  himself 
repeats  that  '  I  do  not  of  course  allude  to  the  too  cele- 
brated Mouhn-Quignon  jaw,  over  which  I  have  already 
pronounced  a  Requiescat  in  pace.^  ^ 

Even  granting  that  this  deception  was  really  practised, 
no  one  can  deny  that  the  skulls  of  Grenelle  and  of  Clichy, 
of  which  we  shall  sood  have  occasion  to  speak,  were  taken 
from  an  undisturbed  bed  of  grey  diluvium,  as  ancient  as 
that  of  Moulin-Quignon.  The  skulls  of  Neanderthal,  of 
Engis,  &C.5  and  the  jawbones  of  Naulette  (figs.  1 1  and  12), 


Fig.  11.  JAVViio:>i:.  of  ^alletti:. 


Fig.  12.  Jawbone  of  cHi3irANZEE. 

of  Aurignac,  and  of  Arcy,  found  in  the  bone  caves  of  the 
palc^olithic  age,  also  bear  strong  testimony  in  favour  of 
the  great  antiquity  of  the  human  race.  It  is  in  the  caves 
therefore  that  we  will  now  seek  our  proofs.  But  here, 
more  than  anywhere  else,  we  must  surround  ourselves  with 

'  See  Evans,  TJ/e  Ancient  Stone  Implements,  Weapons,  and  Orna- 
ments of  Great  Britain,  p.  617.  Although  human  bones  have  not  yst 
been  found  in  the  dnuvium  of  English  valleys,  the  author  whom  we 
have  just  quoted  admits  that  the  Iniman  race  is  contemporaneous  with 
the  extinct  animals  of  which  the  remains  are  found  abundantly  in 
France  in  the  same  diluvium,  or  in  a  number  of  bone  caves. 


SKULLS   OF  NEANDERTHAL.  47 

minute  precautions.  We  sliall  have  to  examine  the  bones 
and  other  objects  wliich  are  found  there,  and  determine 
whether  they  are  buried  in  a  virgin  soil  which  has  never 
been  disturbed  ;  since  it  is  on  this  condition  only  that  we 
can  draw  certain  conclusions  from  the  facts  which  have 
been  observed. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  BONE  CAVES, 
I.    HISTORY    OF    THE    QUESTION". 

Every  important  discovery  is  generally  preceded  by  partial 
discoveries  which  herald  or  foreshadow  its  approach.  Some 
fact  attracts  the  attention  of  an  observant  mind ;  another 
similar  fact  appears,  perhaps  simultaneously,  perhaps 
after  an  interval  of  greater  or  less  duration;  other  phe- 
nomena of  like  nature  group  themselves  around  the  first ; 
and  this  assemblage  of  scattered  gleams  produces  a  ray  of 
light  which  at  length  strikes  the  eyes  of  all  beholders. 
But  the  new  idea  which  shines  out  brilhantly  from  the 
surrounding  obscurity  is  nearly  always  opposed  to  the 
reigning  opinion  which  has  become,  so  to  speak,  an  article 
of  scientific,  often  even  of  religious  faith.  Hence  arise  a 
strenuous  opposition,  a  more  or  less  passionate  strife, 
until  at  last  the  human  mind  can  enjoy  its  new  conquest 
in  peace. 

Such  is  the  approximate  history  of  every  question 
which  has  been  the  subject  of  human  dispute.  That 
which  concerns  the  synchronism  of  our  species  with  the 
great  extinct  mammals  could  form  no  exception  to  the 
general  law.  Proofs  of  this  fact  are  now  abundant ;  and 
the  bone  caves  have  furnished  a  contingent  which  is  by 
no  means  to  be  despised. 

As  early  as  1828,  Tournal  of  Narbonne  announced  to 
the  scientific  world  the  discovery  of  human  remains,^  and 
of  things  fashioned  by  the  hand  of  man,  in  the  cave  of 
Bize   (Aude)  intermixed   with   bones   of  animals   which 

'  A  fragment  of  the  superior  maxillary. 


MAN   AND   EXTINCT   SPECIES   CONTEMPORARY.         49 

Cuvier  himself  considered  as  fossil  in  every  acceptation  of 
the  word.  This  discovery,  important  in  every  point  of 
view,  was  received  with  a  caution  which  was  almost  exces- 
sive, even  on  the  part  of  the  Institute. 

It  is  true  that  the  proof  is  not  absolutely  complete, 
since  the  cave  of  Bize  was  at  one  time  believed  to  date 
only  from  the  time  of  the  reindeer,  and,  as -it  was  said,  con- 
tained no  remains  of  the  cave  bear,  nor  of  the  cave  hyena, 
nor  of  the  mammoth,  nor  of  the  Bhinoceros  tichorhinus, 
&c.,  in  a  word,  of  none  of  the  great  characteristic  mam- 
malia of  the  beginning  of  the  q^uaternary  epoch.  But  at 
the  present  day  every  serious  objection  disappears  in  face 
of  the  fucts  attested  by  Gervais,  that  the  cave  bear  and  cave 
hyena  do  occur  at  Bize,  that  he  has  himself  found  them 
there,  and  that  consequently  the  cave  is  of  more  ancient 
date  than  was  originally  beHeved.  We  cite  the  words 
of  the  learned  professor  of  the  museum,  who  is  known  to 
be  as  a  rule  opposed  to  the  theory  of  the  great  antiquity 
of  man. 

'  I  maintain  that  the  Ursiis  spelccus  and  the  Hycena 
spelcea  are  buried  in  the  same  place  as  man ;  and  that  the 
cave  of  Bize  may  be  cited  as  a  proof  in  support  of  the 
opinion  that  our  species  was  the  contemporary  of  these 
two  great  carnivora.'^ 

Every  doubt  as  to  the  contemporary  existence  of  man 
and  of  extinct  species  should  have  disappeared,  when  on 
June  29,  1829,  M.  de  Christ ol,  then  secretary  of  the 
Societe  d'Histoire  Naturelle  of  Montpellier,  submitted  to 
the  Institute  a  paper  entitled,  '  Notice  sur  les  ossements 
fossiles  des  cavemes  du  departement  du  Gard.'  The 
author  of  this  work,  which  received  at  the  time  less 
notice  than  it  deserved,  after  having  carefully  examined 
the  caves  of  Pondres  and  of  Souvignargues  (Gard),  adduced 
new  and  conclusive  facts  in  support  of  those  already  cited 
by  M.  Tournal.  He  proved  incontestably,  as  we  think, 
that  the  cave  of  Pondres,  being  entirely  filled  by  the 
diluvium  at  the  time  when  he  visited  it,  could  not  have 

'  Gervais,  lircherches  sur  Vancieimete  de  llwmme  et  de  la  periods 
qnaternaire,  p.  54. 


50  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE   HUMAN   RACE. 

received  any  substance  of  modern  or  foreign  origin,  which 
has  sometimes  happened  with  certain  hollows  more  easy 
of  access.  He  showed  further  that  the  bones  of  hyenas 
and  the  fragments  of  pottery  which  occur  there  are  found 
at  every  depth,  and  that  the  human  remains  are  '  in 
precisely  the  same  geological  conditions  as  all  the  other 
bones  w^ith  which  they  are  associated.' 

At  Souvignargues  M.  de  Christol  dug  out  of  the 
deepest  part  of  the  undistuybed  diluvium  a  humerus,  a 
radius,  a  fibula,  a  sacrum,  and  two  vertebrae,  which  had 
formed  part  of  the  skeleton  of  an  adult  of  small  size, 
perhaps  of  a  woman,  as  Professor  Dubreuil  thinks. 

In  1833  Dr.  Schmerling  explored  the  numerous  caves 
of  Belgium,  and  in  several  of  them,  notably  at  Engis  and 
at  Engihoul,  near  Liege,  he  ascertained  the  existence  of 
skulls  and  of  portions  of  the  human  skeleton,  together 
with  those  of  bears,  hyenas,  elephants,  rhinoceroses,  &c., 
lying  in  the  diluvian  deposits,  sometimes  above  and  some- 
times below  the  remains  of  these  species  which  are  already 
universally  recognised  as  fossil.  Bones  and  flints  shaped 
by  human  hands,  extracted  from  the  same  beds,  served  to 
c  jnfirm  Schmerling  in  the  belief  that  man  was  the  con- 
temporary of  the  extinct  animal  population  whose  remains 
he  had  found. 

The  conclusion  was  no  doubt  logical,  and  yet  it  was 
opposed  by  several  geologists  of  great  authority.  Lyell 
himself  did  not  at  first  admit  it  (1833) ;  but  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  later  (1860),  on  the  occasion  of  a 
visit  to  the  Schmerling  collection,  and  to  several  of  the 
places  whence  the  specimens  it  contains  were  extracted, 
the  famous  author  of  the  '  Principles  of  Geology '  frankly 
acknowledged  and  retracted  his  error,  in  terms  which 
are  still  more  creditable  to  his  character  than  to  his 
judgment. 

This  brings  us  to  1835,  the  date  at  which  I,  an  un- 
known disciple  of  science,  ventured  to  maintain  that  man 
was  perhaps  the  contemporary  of  the  bears  whose  remains 
I  had  lately  found  at  Nabrigas  (Lozere)  together  with  a 
fragment  of  pottery  of   early  w^orkmanship,   w^hich  was 


RELIQUIAE   DILUVIAN.1<:.  51 

judged  worthy  by  M.  Christy  to  be  cast  at  Toidouse  for  the 
purpose  of  enriching  the  princii)al  museums  of  France.^ 

My  paper,  which  was  published  in  the  '  Bibliotheque 
Universelle  '  of  Geneva,  being  the  work  of  an  unknown 
author,  attracted  very  little  notice  in  France,  and  in  spite 
of  the  new  proofs  which  it  brought  forward  in  support  of 
the  theory  of  the  co-existence  of  man  and  extinct  species, 
was  perhaps  for  that  very  reason,  forgotten  or  ranked  with 
those  rash  assumptions  then  called  juvenile,  of  which  my 
learned  predecessors  MM.  Tournal  and  Christol  had  given 
me  the  example.  I  hope  the  reader  will  pardon  me  this 
personal  allusion,  this  return  towards  an  already  distant 
past,  which  recalls  to  me  my  early  beginnings  in  science, 
to  which  I  have  with  disinterested  devotion  consecrated 
the  greater  part  of  my  life. 

In  1838  a  work  appeared  entitled  '  Essais  sur  les 
cavemes  a  ossements  et  sur  les  causes  qui  les  y  ont  accu- 
mules.'  After  enumerating  the  different  places  where 
either  human  remains  or  fragments  of  human  industry 
have  been  found,  the  author,  M.  Marcel  de  Serres,  con- 
cludes by  saying :  '  It  appears  then  an  established  fact 
....  that  man  was  the  contemporary  of  the  extinct 
species  whose  remains  are  found  scattered  in  certain  of 
the  bone  caves  of  Europe'  (p.  198).  It  is  true  that,  in 
1860,  Marcel  de  Serres  expressed  a  very  different  opinion. 
'  It  appears,'  he  says,  '  that  the  true  beds  of  diluvian 
df^posit,  also  called  diluvium,  do  not  contain  the  least 
trace  of  bones,  nor  of  human  industry  and  remains.'  ^  At 
the  present  day  few,  if  indeed  any,  geologists  share  this 
later  opinion  of  the  Montpellier  professor. 

In  England  the  bone  caves  had  also  been  eagerly  ex- 
plored, but  often  without  method,  and  with  preconceived 
ideas.  The  important  work  of  Dr.  Buckland,  published 
in    1823,   under  the  title   of  'Reliquiae  Diluvianie,'  had 

'  I  presented  one  of  these  casts  to  the  iluscum  of  Natural  History  at 
Toulouse. 

-  Marcel  de  Serres  :  '  Des  especes  perdiies,  ct  des  races  qui  ont 
diaparn  des  lieux  qu'elles  Juibitaient  jjrimitivement '  (^Annal.  Scieftt, 
SaturcL,  t.  xiii.  ix  300,  18G0). 


52  THE   ANTIQUITY    OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

attracted  considerable  attention  among  scientific  men  ; 
but  it  maintained  that  man  was  not  contemporary  with 
the  extinct  species.  The  discoveries  made  in  1842  in 
Kent's  Cavern,  near  Torquay,  Devonshire,  by  Mr.  Grodwin 
Austen,  clearly  disproved  these  conclusions,  but  without 
convincing  geologists  or  palaeontologists. 

The  year  1858  marks  the  beginning  of  an  important 
era.  A  reaction  against  the  too  absolute  opinions  of  Dr. 
Buckland  set  in  in  England,  and  this  opposition  originated 
in  the  Eoyal  Society.  Several  of  its  most  eminent  mem- 
bers, among  others  Falconer  and  Prestwich,  were  com- 
missioned by  the  Koyal  Society  to  explore  with  the  greatest 
care  the  recently  discovered  cave  of  Brixham  (Devon- 
shire), and  to  draw  up  a  report  on  the  subject.  Among  a 
quantity  of  carved  flints  and  bones  of  extinct  species, 
an  entire  left  hind  leg  of  Ursus  spelceus  was  found  lying 
above  the  incrustation  of  stalagmite  which  covered  the 
bones  of  other  extinct  species  and  the  carved  flints. 
The  bear  had  therefore  lived  after  the  manufacture  of 
these  flint  knives,  consequently  after  the  men  who  fiishioned 
them.  These  men  were  therefore  more  ancient  than  the 
cave  bear. 

Such  were  the  conclusions  of  the  Eoyal  Society,  and 
they  were  shortly  afterwards  confirmed  by  discoveries 
similar  to  those  made  at  Brixham,  notably  by  those  of  the 
cave  of  Long  Hole  (Grlamorgan shire),  where  Colonel  Wood, 
in  1861,  found  imbedded  in  the  same  stratum  flint  tools 
of  the  type  of  those  of  Amiens,  together  with  bones  of  the 
Rhinoceros  hcemitoechus,  which  is  of  yet  earlier  date  than 
the  tichorhimis. 

From  all  these  facts  we  gather  that  the  theory  of  the 
co-existence  of  man  and  extinct  species  is  no  new  one,  and 
that  proofs  in  support  of  it  are  not  wanting ;  but  it  has 
only  been  supported  by  incontestable  evidence,  at  least 
as  far  as  France  is  concerned,  since  the  publication  of  the 
valuable  works  of  M.  Lartet  on  the  bone  caves  of  Perigord 
and  upon  the  burial  cave  of  Aurignac  (Haute  Garonne). 
It  may  even  be  said  that  the  last  remarkable  monograph 
of  this  savant  has  become  the  starting  point  of  all  the 


DESCraPTION   OF  THE   BONE   CAVES.  53 

researches  wliicli  have  since  been  undertaken  in  France, 
in  Enghnid,  in  Bclginm,  in  Italy,  and  in  Spain.  1  am  far 
from  wishing  to  underrate  the  value  and  importance  of 
the  work  which  has  been  done  in  the  bone  caves  of  neigh- 
boiuring  countries ;  but  the  caves  of  France,  and  especially 
those  of  southern  France  and  of  Perigord,  have  supplied 
the  most  convincing  proofs  in  support  of  this  theory  of 
spichrouism,  which  acquires  every  day  a  greater  number 
of  partisans.  This  is  an  important  fact,  which  Lyeli  him- 
self seems  to  have  somewhat  forgotten,  but  M.  d'Archiac 
has  taken  care  to  claim  the  recognition  of  its  great  im- 
portance. 

II.  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  BONE  CAVES. 

The  name  of  bone  caves  is  given  to  the  more  or  less 
extensive  natural  cavities  which  occur  in  ihe  sedimentary 
rocks  of  almost  every  epoch,  but  especially  in  those  of  the 
cretaceous  beds  of  the  Jurassic  Slountains,  and  which 
contain  a  variable  number  of  bones  of  men  or  of  animals, 
intermixed,  as  a  rule,  with  articles  of  human  workman- 
ship. These  cavities,  usually  complex,  and  very  irregular 
in  form,  communicate  with  each  other,  sometimes  by  wide 
galleries,  sometimes  by  winding  passages,  so  narrow  and  so 
low  that  they  can  only  be  traversed  on  hands  and  knees. 
Varying  considerably  in  length  and  height,  they  extend 
sometimes  a  distance  of  some  miles  in  the  interior  of  the 
strata  in  which  they  are  concealed.  Situated  for  the  most 
part  at  a  much  higher  level  than  existing  watercourses, 
they  communicate  with  the  outer  air  by  openings  in  the 
side  of  the  mountain,  by  holes  in  the  vaulted  roof,  or  by 
a  species  of  natural  wells,  into  which  in  many  cases  those 
torrents  fell  which  formerly  bore  along  in  their  current 
the  various  matters  now  found  in  the  caves.  Hence  come 
the  evident  marks  of  erosion  which  are  almost  always  to 
be  observed  on  their  walls. ^ 

As  they  hollowed  out  the  valleys  and  gradually 
deepened  their  beds,  the  great  rivers  of  the  quaternary 

'  Tlie  cave  of  Duruthy,  recently  described  by  M.  Louis  Lartet,  is 
hollowed  in  a  bed  of  nummuiitic  chalk. 


54  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

epoch,  often  swollen  by  heavy  rains,  bore  away  the  rocks 
which  closed  the  entrance  of  the  caverns,  and  deposited 
within  them  the  ossiferous  sediment  and  the  waterworn 
stones  which  are  found  there ;  we  must  therefore  admit, 
with  M.  Ed.  Dupont,  first,  that  the  openings  of  the  caverns 
found  on  the  slopes  of  the  valleys  took  place  at  a  date 
corresponding  to  their  greater  or  less  height  above  the 
present  level  of  the  river ;  secondly,  that  the  fluviatile  de- 
posits with  which  they  are  partly  tilled  are  the  more  ancient, 
the  higher  they  are  raised  above  this  same  level. 

These  deposits  usually  consist  of  a  reddish,  or  some- 
times black  sediment  of  sand  or  mud,  containing  bones  of 
different  kinds  intermixed  with  sand,  gravel,  and  water- 
worn  pebbles,  or  with  angular  fragments  broken  otf  from 
the  roof  or  walls  of  the  cavity.  The  ossiferous  sediment  is 
usually  disposed  in  layers  ;  sometimes  it  forms  a  hard  crust, 
intermixed  with  fragments  of  bone  imbedded  firmly  in  its 
mass,  and  it  is  then  termed  a  bone  breccia.  Breccia  of  this 
nature  nearly  always  occupy  the  lower  part  of  the  caverns 
and  fill  up  their  fissures. 

A  stalagmitic  crust  of  varying  thickness  covers  in 
many  cases  the  sediment  and  the  remains  imbedded  in  it. 
Sometimes  even  the  successive  ossiferous  deposits  are 
separated  from  each  other  by  as  many  layers  of  stalagmite 
as  there  are  layers  of  sediment.^  Other  calcareous  incrust- 
ations, known  as  stalactites  and  stalagmites,  presenting  the 
most  varied  and  whimsical  forms,  often  cover  the  floor, 
the  walls,  and  the  roof  of  the  caverns,  and  give  them  that 
fantastic  appearance  which  caused  them  formerly  to  be 
considered  as  the  abode  of  fairies. 

Occurring,  as  we  have  said,  in  the  most  various  beds 
(chalk  of  the  transition  period,  Jurassic,  cretaceous,  nummu- 
litic,  and  upper  marine  tertiary  rocks),  and  in  every  country 

'  In  certain  Brazilian  caves  Lund  has  counted  seven  layers  of  ossi- 
ferous sediment,  separated  by  as  many  layers  of  stalaomite  ;  a  certain 
proof  that  the  bones  therein  contained  were  deposited  at  different  and 
successive  epochs.  The  same  phenomenon  was  observed  in  a  gallery  of 
the  cave  of  r)rixliam,  near  Tonpiay.  and  in  certain  caverns  of  France  and 
Belgium.  This  clearly  shows  that  the  waters  were  introduced  and  with- 
drawn several  times,  and  in  the  intervals  the  stalagmite  was  deposited. 


CONTENTS   OF   THE   BONE   CAVES.  55 

on  the  earth,  the  bone  caves  present  nearly  everywhere 
the  same  general  characters,  but  not  the  same  contents. 
Thus  while  the  most  ancient  caverns  of  the  European  con- 
tinent contain  in  more  or  less  abundance  the  bones  of  the 
Ursus  spelceus,  the  Hycena  spelcea,  the  EUphas  primirje- 
7ii  us,  the  Rhinoceros  thchortihius,the  Gei^us  tarandus,the 
Megaceros  hibernicus,  the  Bison  europcBus  or  aurochs,  &c., 
those  of  America  contain,  besides  the  monkeys  peculiar  to 
that  continent,  the  remains  of  animals  which  recall,  but 
in  colossal  proportions,  certain  species  of  edentata  still 
living  in  the  country.  Such  are  the  inefjatherium,  the 
7nylodon,  the  megalonyx,  the  glyptodon,  &c. 

Fmally,  in  Australia,  where  the  only  indigenous  mam- 
mals belong  exclusively  to  the  family  of  marsupials  or 
pouched  animals,  we  find  marsupials  of  gip-antic  size  in 
the  bone  caves  {Biprotoduii  australis,  Macropus  atlas, 
Fhascolomys  gigas,  &c.). 

The  condition  of  the  bones  imbedded  in  the  sediment 
of  the  caves  shows  that  they  have  undergone  considerable 
changes  in  their  chemical  composition.  They  have  gene- 
rally lost  the  greater  part  of  their  organic  matter.  They 
are  fragile,  resonant,  more  or  less  friable,  cracked,  and 
stick  to  the  tongue  when  they  are  touched  with  it.  Many 
of  them  are  irregularly  broken  across,  or  else  intentionally 
split  lengthways.  As  a  rule,  they  are  scattered  without 
any  order  in  the  sediment  of  the  caves,  but  sometimes 
they  have  retained  their  natural  positions.  This  was  the 
case  with  a  femur,  tibia,  fibula,  patella,  and  an  astragalus  of 
Ursus  spelceus,  found  by  Dr.  Falconer  in  the  cave  of  Brix- 
ham.  The  skeletons  of  the  great  mammalia  (elephant, 
horse,  ox,  &c.)  are  very  rarely  found  entire'  in  the  ossifer- 
ous grottoes,  while  all  the  pieces  of  the  skeleton  of  the 
reindeer  and  of  animals  of  small  or  middling  size  are  very 
often,  indeed  nearly  always,  to  be  found.  This  is  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  troglodyte  savages  of  our  lands  carried 

*  Among  the  rare  examples  of  which  we  are  speaking,  we  may  instance 
the  al  ost  entire  skeleton  of  a  rhinoceros  found  in  the  ossileroas  s.idi- 
ment  of  Dream  Cave,  in  Derbyshire,  an  evident  proof  that  when  intio- 
duced  into  this  subterranean  cavern,  it  was  still  clothed  with  liesh,  or 
at  least  that  the  bones  were  still  connected  by  lijj;aments. 


56  TEE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

away  entire  to  their  subterraneous  dwellings  those  victims 
of  the  chase  whose  weight  was  not  too  great,  while  they 
cut  up  on  the  hunting  ground  the  larger  booty,  contenting 
themselves  with  bearing  away  the  head  and  limbs  to  eat 
in  the  cavern. 

So  many  different  opinions  have  been  put  forward  with 
respect  to  the  means  by  which  the  bone  caves  were  filled, 
that  it  appears  impossible  to  reconcile  them  with  each 
other.  The  supposition  that  all  bone  caves  have  been  filled 
by  watercourses  in  flood,  which  at  diiferent  times  have 
borne  thither,  in  company  with  gravel,  mud,  and  pebbles, 
the  immense  quantity  of  bones  which  they  encountered  on 
the  surface  of  the  soil,  is,  we  think,  a  too  absolute  assertion, 
and  one  which  observation  has  shown  to  be  false.  For 
often  even  the  youngest  and  most  fragile  bones  present  no 
trace  of  a  violent  or  prolonged  removal ;  their  sharpest 
edges,  their  most  acute  angles,  are  intact,  which  would 
certainly  not  be  the  case  had  they  been  carried  any  dis- 
tance by  the  current. 

Now  this  is  precisely  what  has  been  observed  in  those 
caverns  which  contain  only  the  remains  of  Ursus  spelceus. 
We  are  therefore  justified  in  ascribing  the  accumulation 
of  these  remains  to  the  prolonged  habitation  of  the  bears 
in  these  caves,  until  the  moment  when  they  were  over- 
whelmed by  the  waters,  diluvian  or  other,  and  buried  then 
*  and  there  in  the  sediment  which  they  bore  along  with  them. 

Again,  when  we  find  in  company  with  these  bones  of 
bears,  and  imbedded  in  the  same  sediment,  those  of  herbi- 
vorous animals  intermixed  with  those  of  the  great  Felidce 
or  of  Hycena  spelcjea,  we  ought  to  admit  with  the  author 
of  '  Keliqui^e  Diluvianse,'  that  these  great  carnivora  may 
have  carried  their  prey  into  these  subterranean  hollows,  to 
devour  it  there  at  their  leisure.  The  marks  of  the  teeth 
of  the  carnivora  still  to  be  seen  on  the  bones  of  the 
herbivora  crushed  by  their  powerful  jaws;  the  presence 
of  their  excrement  {co^JVoUthes)  in  the  very  place  of  de- 
posit; the  heaps  formed  by  these  ejecta,  still  placed  one 
over  the  other,  and  as  if  articulated  together  ;  are  so  many 
proofs  which  testify  against  the  theory  which  assigns  the 


ACCIDENTAL  DISTURBANCES  IN   TJIE   CAVES.  57 

action  of  diluvian  currents  as  the  sole  ngcnt  in  the  trans- 
port of  organic  remains  into  the  bone  caves. 

Tlie  action  of  man  himself  should  be  seriously  taken 
into  consideration  in  seeking  to  determine  the  causes 
which  have  brought  about  the  filling  of  the  caves.  For 
in  many  cases  ^  they  have  served  as  dwellings,  as  refuges, 
as  the  rendezvous  of  hunters,  as  meeting  places  or  tombs 
to  the  earliest  populations  of  these  districts.  It  is  there- 
fore not  surprising  that  they  should  have  left  in  them 
their  mortal  remains,  the  fragments  of  their  daily  meals, 
their  weapons,  their  tools,  in  a  word  the  still  simple  pro- 
ducts of  their  dawning  industry. 

Unfortunately,  we  cannot  always  be  ^ure  that  these 
objects  are  of  the  same  date  as  the  bones  of  extinct  species 
w^ith  which  they  are  found.  Accidental  disturbances  of 
the  soil,  occurring  at  widely  separated  periods,  may  have 
mixed  the  productions  of  human  industry  with  bones  of 
a  very  ditferent  date.  This  is  evidently  the  case  in  the 
cave  of  Fausan  (Herault),  where  Marcel  de  Serres  found  a 
fragment  of  enamelled  glass  embedded  in  a  skull  of  Ui^sus 
spekeus  ;  specimens  of  tire-baked  pottery,  relatively  quite 
modern,  were  found  at  Bize  by  the  same  naturalist,  side 
by  side  with  other  vessels  of  unbaked  clay,  and  of  far  ruder 
workmanship.  Similar  facts,  which  may  have  occasioned 
many  mistakes,  have  been  observed  in  several  other  caves, 
among  which  it  is  sufficient  for  the  moment  to  cite  those 
of  Herm  and  Aurignac. 

We  cannot  therefore  always,  and  as  a  matter  of  coiu-se, 
conclude  that  the  human  bones  found  in  company  with 
the  remains  of  extinct  animals  were  contemporary  with 
each  other.  But  doubt  is  no  longer  reasonable  when  the 
bones  of  animals  and  those  of  our  own  species,  utiiformly 
mixed,  imbc^dded  in  the  same  sediment,  and  which  have 
undergone  the  same  alterations,  are  moreover  covered  by 
a  thick  layer  of  stalagmite  ;  when  objects  of  a  completely 
primitive  industry  occupy  the  same  bed  with  bones  be- 
longing to  extinct   species ;    when   the   latter   bear   the 

'  Some  Italian  caves  were  inhabited  in  the  time  of  the  Etruscans, 
and  a  few  are  still  used  in  modern  days. 


58  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

evident  marks  of  human  workmanship ;  finally,  when  we 
find  in  the  diluvian  strata  of  the  valleys,  manufactured 
objects  and  bones  exactly  like  those  discovered  in  caves 
of  the  same  date.  Now  all  these  circumstances  occur 
together  in  the  valleys  of  the  Somme,  the  Ehine,  the 
Thames,  &c. ;  as  well  as  in  certain  caves  of  France,  Eng- 
land, Belgium,  Italy,  Sicily,  &c. 

All  these  bone  caves  cannot  and  must  not,  as  we  shall 
presently  show,  be  referred  to  the  same  epoch.  There 
are  many  far  less  ancient  than  those  of  which  we  have 
just  spoken. 

A  considerable  number  of  caves  belong  to  the  age  of 
polished  stone,  among  which  those  in  the  departments  of 
Ariege,  of  Avejron,  of  Lozere,  of  Gard,  and  of  Marne,  have 
acquired  a  certain  notoriety.  In  most  of  these,  especially 
in  those  which  have  been  used  as  places  of  burial,  human 
bones  have  been  found  in  company  with  objects  made  by 
man,  and  with  remains  of  animals  belonging  to  species 
which  are  analogous  to,  or  altogether  the  same  as  those 
of  our  time.  MM.  Grarrigou  and  Filhol,  who  have  care- 
fully studied  the  caves  in  Ariege  (^Niaux,  Bedeilhac, 
Mas-d^Azil,  &c.)  are  of  opinion  that  they  are  of  the  same 
date  as  the  oldest  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland.^  We 
shall  have  occasion  to  recur  to  several  of  these  caves  in 
the  course  of  this  work. 

'  In*  spite  of  the  opinion  of  certain  geologists  who  are 
somewhat  behind  the  age,  the  researches  made  in  the 
caves,  and  likewise  those  of  which  the  ancient  alluvial 
deposits  have  been  the  theatre,  clearly  prove  that  man  is 
prior  to  the  events  of  which  the  diluvium  was  the  product 
and  the  witness.  Before  that  hour  his  foot  pressed  the 
soil  which  in  the  far  distant  future,  now  for  us  an  obscure 
past,  was  to  become  the  land  of  Gaul.  He  was  the 
contemporary  of  the  great  annihilated  quadrupeds.  He 
saw,  in  our  latitude,  the  primitive  elephants  wandering  in 
virgin  forests,  the  hippopotamus  disporting  itself  in  the 
rivers,  the    rhinoceros    wallowing    in    the   mud    of    the 

'  See  F.  Garrip:oii  and  H.  Filhol,  Affc  de  la  iricrre  jfolie  dans  lei 
cavernes  des  Pyrenees  arifgeoises. 


AGE   OF   THE   CAVERNS.  59 

marshes  ;  he  heard  the  roaring  of  the  lion,  and  disputed 
his  hfe  with  the  terrible  cave  bear,  and  hunted  those 
primitive  oxen  and  stags  the  species  of  which  are  extinct.' 
('Cosmos,'  Journal  ^cientitique,  1867,  p.  199.) 

III.    AGE     OF    THE    CAVERNS. 

M.  Lartet  is  the  author  of  the  idea,  at  once  natural  and 
ingenious,  that  a  kind  of  palgeontologic  chronology  founded 
upon  the  gradual  and  successive  disappearance  of  the 
great  characteristic  species  of  the  quaternary  epoch  might 
be  established  for  the  bone  caves  of  Europe.  In  following 
out  this  suggestion  we  find  four  principal  divisions  in  the 
long  period  to  which  the  bone  caves  belong,  namely : 

1.  The  age  of  the  great  cave  bear  {Ursus  spelceiis), 

2.  The  age  of  the  mammoth  elephant  (^Elejjhas  'prinni- 
genius),  and  of  the  rhinoceros  with  partitioned  nostrils 
{JRh i n oce ros  t ichorh inus ). 

3.  The  age  of  the  reindeer  {Cervus  tarandus), 

4.  The  age  of  the  aurochs  {Bison  Eurojoceiis). 

The  first  of  these  ages  is  characterised  by  the  presence 
of  the  bear,  usually  accompanied  by  the  hyena,  and  the 
great  cat  or  cave  lion;  the  Ui^sus  spelwus  did  not,  accord- 
ing to  ^1.  Lartet,  sm-vive  this  first  period.  The  second 
epoch  is  distinguished  by  the  disappearance  of  the  mam- 
moth, which  became  extinct,  after  having  long  had  as 
almost  inseparable  companions  the  Rhinoceros  tichorhinus^ 
the  great  hippopotamus,  and  Cervus  megaceros.  In  the 
third  period  the  reindeer,  which  at  first  predominates, 
disappeared  from  central  Europe  and  migrated  further 
north.  Lastly,  in  the  fourth  age,  the  aurochs,  which  still 
live  among  the  Caucasus  mountains  and  in  the  Lithu- 
anian forests,  is  at  the  present  day,  with  the  reindeer, 
emigrated  towards  the  North,  the  sole  remaining  repre- 
sentative in  temperate  Europe  of  those  species  which  are 
reckoned  characteristic  of  the  quaternary  period. 

M,  Dupont  has  proposed  a  classification  of  the  caves 
which  differs  from  that  of  M.  Lartet.  He  holds  that  the 
oldest  caves  should  be  characterised  by  the  presence  of 
such  animals  as  are  completely  extinct  (Mammoth,  Ui'sus 


r)0  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

spelceus,  Felis  spelcea).  To  the  second  class  would  belong 
those  caves  in  which  are  found  the  bones  of  those  animals 
which  have  migrated  (reindeer,  chamois),  but  which 
survive  to  our  own  day.  In  a  third  and  last  group  he 
would  include  those  caves  which  contain  the  bones  of 
species  still  living,  or  which  have  been  destroyed  by  man. 
But  as  it  nearly  always  happens  in  such  cases,  subsequent 
observations  soon  showed  that  these  divisions  were  far  too 
definite,  the  same  cave  often  belonging  to  two  and  even 
to  three  consecutive  ages. 

For  instance,  Garrigou  and  Martin  proved  that  the 
cave  of  Lom-des  (Hautes  Pyrenees),^  ranked  by  Milne- 
Edwards  and  Lartet  in  the  age  of  the  aurochs,  should 
be  ascribed  to  an  earlier  epoch,  for  it  contains  a  quantity 
of  reindeer  bones,  a  species  which  disappeared,  as  we 
have  already  shown,  considerably  earlier  than  that  of  the 
aurochs.^  In  several  caves  of  Sologne,  the  Marquis  de 
Vibraye  observed  in  the  lowest  layer  of  the  diluvium 
{grey  diluvium)  bones  of  extinct  species  contemporary 
with  the  mammoth,  together  with  flint  tools  of  rude 
workmanship  ;  the  upper  layer  (red  diluvium)  contained, 
on  the  other  hand,  abundant  remains  of  the  reindeer  inter- 
mixed with  flints  wrought  with  a  degree  of  skill  which 
testifies  to  the  existence  of  a  civilisation  equal  to  that  of 
the  lake  dwellers  of  Switzerland.  Four  successive  ages  have 
also  been  observed  in  the  cave  of  Mas-d'Azil  (Ariege).^ 
The  age  of  the  reindeer  and  that  of  polished  stone  are 
equally  represented  in  the  cave  of  la  Vache.^ 

'  Thus  we  have,'  says  M.  d'Archiac,  '  in  this  single 
valley  of  Ariege,  the  elements  of  a  human  chronology 
which  is  nowhere  else  to  be  found  in  so  complete  a  form 
in  so  limited  a  space."* 

The  Cave  of  the  Fairies  (Yonne),  explored  by  M.  de 

*  Cornptes  rendiis  de  Vlmtitut,  Mar.  2,  1861.  Age  de  Vaurochs  et  age 
du  reiine  dans  la  ijrotte  de  Loiirdes. 

-  Garrigou  and  Filljol,  Atje  de  la  ;p\erre  puUe  dans  les  cavernes  de» 
Pyrenees  ariegeoises. 

3  Dr.  Garrigou,  Age  du,  renne  dans  la  groiie  de  la  VaeJie,  2)rh  de 
Tarascon  (Ariige).     Mcnurire  Soc.  Hist.  JVat.  de  Toulouse,  18G7,  p.  58. 

*  D'Archiac,  Faune  quaternaire,  jd.  106,  Paris,  1865. 


KENT'S  CAVERN.  61 

Vibraye,  is  likewise  an  example  of  a  cave  where  several 
successive  ages  are  well  represented.  In  the  lowest  layer 
are  contained  the  remains  of  the  great  characteristic 
species  of  the  diluvium  (Ursus  sj^jelojus,  Hyccna  spelaxt, 
&c.) ;  in  the  middle  layer  are  those  of  the  reindeer ;  lastly, 
in  the  upper  layer  (loess)  bones  of  animals  still  living  in 
the  district  (fox,  badger).  Analogous  facts  have  been 
remarked  in  the  department  of  Herault  (cave  of  Pontil) 
by  jNI.  Gervais  ;  in  that  of  Aude  (at  Salleles-Cabardes)  by 
M.  Filhol ;  in  Poitou  by  MM.  Brouillet  and  Meilles,  &c. 

Kent's  Cavern,  near  Torquay,  is  another  example 
which  proves  incontestably  that  the  same  bone  cave  may 
have  been  inhabited  by  man  at  different  epochs.  In  a 
layer  of  red  loam  overlying  the  original  soil  of  this  cave 
are  found  bones  of  extinct  or  migrated  animals  (Machai- 
rodas  latidens,  JJrsus  spelceus,  Hywna  sj^elcea,  Cervus 
tcwandics,  &c.),  intermixed  with  carved  flints  (some  of  the 
Saint-Acheul  type,  others  resembling  those  of  Aurignac, 
of  Moustier,  and  of  Laugerie  Haute),  and  with  implements 
of  reindeer  bone  (harpoons  and  barbed  arrows,  awls,  pins 
and  needles),  which  resemble  the  delicate  work  of  the 
troglodytes  of  la  Madelaine  (Dordogne).'  The  bed  of  red 
loam  which  contains  these  various  objects  is  itself  covered 
by  a  layer  of  stalagmite  from  one  to  three  feet  thick,  and 
a  third  layer  of  dark  muddy  soil,  from  four  to  fifteen  inches 
in  depth,  overlies  the  stalagmite. 

'  Above  the  stalagmite,  and  principally  in  the  black 
mould,  a  number  of  relics  have  been  found  belonging  to 
different  periods,  such  as  socketed  celts,  and  a  socketed 
knife  of  bronze,  and  some  small  fragments  of  roughly- 
smelted  copper,  about  four  hundred  flint  flakes,  cores,  and 
chips,  a  polishing  stone,  a  ring  of  stone  already  described, 
numerous  spindle-whorls,  bone  instruments  terminating 
in  comb-like  ends,  pottery,  marine  shells,  numerous  maui- 

'  Amon?  the  flint  instruments  discovered  in  Kent's  Cavern  are  several 
which  have  the  form  of  long-  splinters,  similar  to  the  splinters  of  oUsidian 
with  which  the  inhabitants  of  New  Caledonia  tip  their  javelins,  and 
which  those  of  Terra  del  Fuej^o  use  both  for  arrow  heads  and  knives. 
The  Enoflish  flint  knives  in  question  are  very  like  those  of  Laugerie 
HautCj  but  the  workmanship  is  not  so  good. 

4 


62  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

malian  bones  of  existing  species,  and  some  human  bones, 
on  which  it  has  been  thought  there  are  traces  indicative 
of  cannibalism.  Some  of  the  pottery  is  distinctly  Koman 
in  character,  but  many  of  the  objects  belong,  no  doubt,  to 
pre-Eoman  times.'  ^ 

We  cannot  hesitate  to  conclude  from  this  list,  that 
subsequent  to  the  deposit  of  the  stratum  of  dark  soil, 
Kent's  Cavern  was  frequented  by  men  of  the  age  of  bronze 
and  of  polished  stone,  without  counting  those  of  the  Roman 
epoch  who  have  left  in  the  cave  the  traces  of  their  in- 
dustry. But  it  is  equally  incontestable  that  Kent's  Cavern 
long  served  as  a  dwelling  to  the  primaeval  inhabitants  of 
the  country,  that  they  had  their  meals  in  it,  and  worked 
in  flint  and  bone  there,  &c.,  until  the  day  when  the  thick 
layer  of  stalagmite  which  covers  the  ossiferous  sediment 
was  formed.  No  other  explanation  would  account  for  this 
strange  admixture  of  bones  of  extinct  species,  of  flints  of 
the  Saint- Acheul  and  Moustier  types,of  artistically  wrought 
bone  implements,  contained  in  the  same  sediment. 

Here  then  is  a  cave  which  contains  incontestably  in 
situ,  according  to  the  scientific  men  who  have  explored  it, 
objects  belonging  to  all  ages,  and  which  it  is  consequently 
impossible  to  rank  in  either  of  the  too  exclusive  categories 
admitted  or  proposed  by  palaeontologists.  The  caves  of 
Hohefels  in  Wurtemberg  and  of  Thayngen  in  Switzerland 
offer  analogous  and  perhaps  even  more  remarkable  facts  ; 
for  in  the  last  especially  were  found  an  essentially  northern 
fauna,  and  animals  whose  contemporaneity  was  far  from 
being  suspected. 

The  palseontological  classification  of  caves  is  therefore 
liable  to  lead  us  into  serious  mistakes ;  and  moreover  it 
is  often  entirely  local.  Thus  Louis  Lartet  himself  was 
obliged  to  modify  in  almost  every  respect  the  chronology 
of  his  illustrious  father,  in  determining  the  age  of  the 
Spanish  caves  which  he  had  been  exploring.     Therefore 

1  Evans,  T/te  Ancient  Stone  Tmjylements,  Weapons,  and  Ornaments 
vf  Great  Britain,  p.  445,  1872.  In  certain  Italian  caves  (Grotta  dell' 
Onda,  Grotta  do'  Goti  e  della  Giovannina)  bones  of  Ursus  sj^elcem  have 
been  found  as  well  as  tools  of  the  neolithic  age. 


CL.\^SIFICATrON   OF   THE   CAVES.  63 

in  1867  Dr.  Garrigou  proposed  to  the  Societe  d'llistoire 
Natiirelle  of  Toulouse  a  new  classifieation,  which  is  gene- 
rally adopted  at  the  present  day.     It  is  as  follows : — 

1.  The  age  of  the  Ursus  spelceus,  with  which  the 
author  connects  also  the  period  of  the  mammoth. 

2.  The  age  of  the  Cervus  tarandus  (reindeer),  com- 
prising also  that  of  the  aurochs,  and  characterised  in  its 
latter  half  by  the  almost  complete  disappearance  of  the 
species  of  the  first  age  indicated  above. 

3.  The  age  of  polished  stone. 

Like  those  which  it  was  intended  to  reform,  the  classi 
fication  of  Dr.  Garrigou  is  somewhat  arbitrary ;  for  we 
do  not  know  with  certainty  the  precise  epoch  at  which 
the  animals  which  characterise  any  given  period  ap- 
peared in  our  lands  or  disappeared  from  them.  More- 
over, these  epochs  sometimes  overlap  one  another,  like 
those  of  stone,  bronze,  and  iron.  We  know,  for  instance, 
that  the  great  cave  bear  and  the  mammoth  often  accom- 
pany the  reindeer,  even  in  those  caves  where  the  bones  of 
the  latter  are  far  more  numerous ;  that  in  certain  caves 
(JSolutre)  the  bones  of  the  last-named  animal  were  dis- 
covered along  with  those  of  the  horse,  predominant  in  its 
turn  and  perhaps  already  domesticated  ;  finally  that  M. 
L.  Lartet  found  carved  and  engraved  reindeer  bones  in  the 
cave  of  Duruthy,  together  with  objects  of  industry  which 
announced  the  dawn  of  the  age  of  polished  stone. 

While  recognising  the  defects  we  have  mentioned,  and 
taking  as  his  point  of  departure  the  comparative  degree 
of  skill  attained  in  the  workmanship  of  the  artificial  pro- 
ducts taken  from  the  bone  caves,  M.  de  Mortillet  proposed 
to  class  these  implements  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  epoch  of  Saint-Acheul  (Somme),  distinguished 
by  the  almond-shaped  axe,  the  axe  in  the  form  of  a  cat's 
tongue,  and  by  the  absence  of  bone  implements. 

2.  The  epoch  of  Moustier  (Dordogne),  distinguished 
by  scrapers  and  triangular  lance  heads,  cut  only  on  one 
side. 

3.  The  epoch  of  Solutre  (Saone-et-Loire).  The 
almond-shaped  axes  disappear;  the  flint  sjjear  heads  are 


64  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

more    skilfully  wrought.      The    principal   weapon  is  an 
angular  mace,  which  reappears  in  the  following  epoch. 

4.  The  epoch  of  Aurignac  (Haute  G^aronne).  Bone 
implements  are  more  frequent.  The  angular  mace  per- 
sists. The  arrow  and  spear  heads,  instead  of  being  flint, 
are  fashioned  in  bone  or  from  the  antlers  of  the  reindeer. 

5.  The  fifth  epoch  is  that  of  la  Madelaine  (Dordogne), 
distinguished  from  the  preceding  by  the  presence  of 
numerous  works  of  art  carved  or  engraved  upon  stone  or 
bone.  The  'arrow  and  lance  heads  in  bone  or  reindeer 
horn  are,  as  at  Aurignac,  bevelled  or  pointed  at  their  lower 
extremity  so  as  to  penetrate  the  shaft  which  is  destined 
to  carry  them. 

The  above  classification  would  be  doubtless  convenient, 
if  it  were  in  entire  agreement  with  the  facts.  Unfor- 
tunately the  testimony  of  facts  tends  to  lessen  its  value. 
Thus  the  workmanship  of  Cro-Magnon,  for  instance, 
seems  less  advanced  than  that  of  la  Madelaine,  and  yet 
M.  de  Mortillet  confounds  the  two  ep(»chs.  Moreover, 
judging  from  its  tombs,  its  carved  flints,  and  rude 
sculpture,  we  are  inclined  to  place  Solutre  in  an  epoch 
intermediate  between  the  ages  of  the  reindeer  and  of 
polished  stone.  This  cave  would  thus  be  more  recent 
than  la  Madelaine,  although  it  is  ranked  long  before  it  by 
M.  de  Mortillet.  However,  on  receipt  of  further  informa- 
tion, M.  de  Mortillet  subsequently  modified  his  original 
classification,  and  we  here  reproduce  an  abridged  form  of 
his  new  table  of  the  geological  ages. 


Ages 
Neolithic,  or  of  polished  stone 


Palicolithic,    or    of     chipped 
stone 


Periofls 

Of  Robenhausen.  The  lake  dwellings 
and  dolmens. 

Of  la  Madelaine.  The  majority  of 
the  bone  caves  ;  almost  the  whole 
of  the  reindeer  epoch. 

Of  Solut  re.  The  reindeer  and  the  mam- 
moth. 

Of  Moustier.     The  great  cave  bear. 

Of  Saint-Acheul.     The  mammoth. 


Eolithic,  or  of  stone  splintered    f  ^^  ^^^  Tertiary  period, 

by  the  action  of  hre  (  -^  *'  -^ 


CLASSIFICATION   OF  M.    IIAMY.  65 

Howevor  iiijTenions  and  convenient  the  industrial  classi- 
fication  of  M.  de  Mortillet  may  be,  it  is  not  even  a  purely 
artiticial  one,  and  more  than  one  objection  has  already 
been  raised  against  it  on  this  head.  For  whatever  he 
may  maintain,  the  progress  of  industry  is  not  sufficiently 
evident  nor  the  ditierences  sufficiently  marked,  between 
the  types  of  Moustier  and  Saint-Acheul,  -to  allow  us  to 
admit  their  regular  succession  in  space  and  time.  Nume- 
rous and  precise  observations  made  on  the  spot  by  ]\I. 
d'Acy  prove  that  one  type  is  not  placed  above  the  other, 
and  that  the  flints  of  the  Moustier  type  are  as  abundant 
in  the  lower  strata  as  in  the  upper,  although,  according  to 
the  theory  of  ^I.  de  Mortillet,  they  do  not  occur  in  the 
former  and  only  appear  higher  up. 

Taking  into  account  at  once  the  stratigraphical,  pala?- 
ontological,  and  archaeological  characters,  and  especially 
desirous  to  remove  the  doubts  which  some  people  still  retain 
with  respect  to  the  authenticity  or  to  the  great  age  of  the 
bones  and  works  of  art  found  in  the  caves,  M.  Hamy  has 
endeavoiured  to  establish,  between  the  caves  and  the 
quaternary  alluvium,  a  parallel  which  shows  them  to  be 
often  identical.  Indeed  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise, 
since  in  a  great  number  of  cases,  the  filling  of  the  caves 
took  place  at  the  same  time  as  the  deposition  of  the  allu- 
vium in  the  valleys.  There  is  therefore  an  agreement, 
and  even  synchronism,  between  these  two  series  of  facts, 
and  the  organic  remains,  as  well  as  the  products  of  human 
industry,  are  generally  identical  in  the  two  kinds  of  de- 
posit in  question. 

If  then  the  fauna  of  the  alluvium  of  the  valleys  and 
that  of  the  sediment  of  the  bone  caves  are  similar,  the 
proofs  furnished  by  the  one  corroborate  those  given  by 
the  others,  and  by  establishing  a  comparison  we  can  draw 
our  conclusions  with  certainty.  Starting  from  these  pre- 
mises, which  are  undoubtedly  correct,  and  always  subor- 
dinating, as  he  says,  the  history  of  the  caves  to  that  of  the 
alluvium,  M.  Hamy  has  divided  the  bone  caves  into  five 
groups  corresponding  to  as  many  places  which  serve 
as  types  of  stratified  alluvium. 


66  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN   KACE. 

The  first  group  belongs  to  the  period  of  transition  be- 
tween the  upper  pleiocene  and  quaternary  strata.  It  com- 
prises, on  the  one  hand,  the  shelly  and  sandy  beds  {crag) 
of  the  counties  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  the  submerged 
forests  of  England,  and  the  caves  of  which  Montreuil  is  the 
type ;  on  the  other,  the  caves  of  Wookey,  Gower,  Syracuse, 
of  San  Teodoro,  &c.,  which  were  filled  up  at  a  date  ante- 
rior to  the  second  glacial  period.  The  pleiocene  and 
quaternary  species  here  co-exist,  but  the  latter  become 
more  and  more  abundant,  while  the  former  gradually 
disappear.^  Flint  implements  exist,  but  they  are  more 
rudely  fashioned  than  those  of  Abbeville. 

The  caves  of  the  second  group,  of  which  Moustier, 
Herm,  and  Nabrigas  may  be  considered  as  the  principal 
types,  belong  to  the  age  of  the  mammoth.  This  group  is 
characterised  palseontologically  by  the  simultaneous  pre- 
sence of  extinct  animals  (cave  bear,  mammoth,  &c.), 
those  which  have  migrated  (reindeer  and  hippopotamus), 
and  those  still  extant  in  the  country  (horse,  ox,  &c.). 
Geologically  it  corresponds  to  the  grey  diluvium  of  Paris, 
that  is,  to  the  lowest  layers  of  the  fluviatile  alluvium,  to 
which  M.  Belgrand  has  given  the  name  of  loiuei'  levels. 
The  corresponding  typical  beds  are  those  of  Hoxne,  Saint- 
Acheul,  Abbeville,  Levallois,  the  valley  of  the  Ehine, 
Clermont-sur-Ariege,  Denise,  &c.  The  skulls  of  Neander- 
thal, Lahr,  Eguisheim,  and  of  the  Olmo ;  the  jawbones  of 
Moulin-Quignon,  of  Naulette,  and  of  Arcy,  belong  to  this 
age  of  the  mammoth. 

The  third  group  forms  a  link  between  the  ages  of  the 
mammoth  and  reindeer.  The  typical  caves  are  those  of 
Aurignac,  Bize,  Cro-Magnon,  Engis,  and  the  Trou  du 
Sureau  in  Belgium.     The  stratified  alluvium  comprised 

>  An  Elejyhas  meridionalis  was  found  at  San  Teodoro  ;  and  in  the 
cave  of  Ba\ime  r  Jura),  wliich  chronologically  corresponds  to  the  strati- 
fied deposits  of  Cromer  and  Montreuil,  a  iVaokairadus  latidens,  a  plei- 
ocene species  of  great  bear,  with  long  flattened  canine  teeth,  serrated  at 
the  edges  and  curved  backwards  like  a  scimitar,  was  found  in  company 
with  the  HycP7ia  sjyelcea  and  the  Eleplms  inimigemm^  animals  which 
distinctly  belong  to  the  quaternary  epoch. 


DIVISIONS   OF  THE  QUATERNARY   EPOCH.  C)7 

in  this  group  belongs  to  the  mean  levels  of  the  Seine  and 
to  the  deposits  of  whieh  those  of  Grenelle  and  Var  are 
types.  Tlie  work  in  bone  improves,  and  the  shaping  of 
the  Hint  tools  is  simplified. 

The  fourth  group  includes  the  types  of  Eyzies,  of  la 
]^Iadelaine,  of  Laugerie  Haute ;  to  which  must  be  added 
the  other  caves  of  Perigord  (excepting  that  of  Cro-Mag- 
non) as  well  as  la  Yache,  Massat,  Bruniquel,  Trou  Magrite, 
Pont  a  Lesse,  and  Solutre.  JNI.  Hamy  ranks  in  this  sub- 
division the  beds  of  Boulonnais,  of  Schiissenried,  and  the 
high  levels  of  the  Seine  (red  diluvium  and  Loess).  This 
group  corresponds  to  the  first  age  of  the  reindeer. 

The  grotto  of  Chaleux  and  other  caves  of  the  valley  of 
the  Lesse  {trou  du  Frontal,  trou  des  Nutons),  belonging 
to  the  second  age  of  the  reindeer,  are  comprised  in  the 
fifth  group.  With  these  are  reckoned  in  France  the 
caves  of  Lourdes,  and  those  of  la  Balme  and  Bethenas  in 
Dauphine.  The  skulls  of  Furfooz  belong  to  this  epoch, 
which  is  distinguished  from  the  preceding  ones  by  a 
marked  decadence  in  the  work  in  flint  and  bone,  which  in 
the  preceding  epoch  had  shown  a  steady  improvement. 

At  Eyzies  and  at  Massat  the  first  attempts  at  engrav- 
ing on  stone  were  discovered.  At  la  Madelaine  carving 
in  bone  begins,  and  at  Laugerie  Basse  and  at  Bruniquel 
it  attains  its  highest  degree  of  perfection.  A  specimen  of 
carving  on  stone  was  found  at  Solutre. 

The  data  furnished  at  once  by  stratigraphy,  palaeon- 
tology, and  prehistoric  archaeology,  form  the  bases  of  the 
divisions  proposed  by  M.  Broca  for  the  quaternary  epoch, 
divisions  which  he  has  himself  drawn  up  in  the  following 
table,  which  we  have  already  given,  p.  28. 


6S 


THE  AKTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 


Stratiuraphical 
Data 

Palseontolcgical 
Data 

Archreological 
Data 

/Low  levels   of   iindis- 
Ouater-         ^''^^^"^  valleys 

epoch      ^.^^  j^^,^^g 

Age  of  the 
mammoth 

Intermediate 
age 

Age  of  the 
reindeer 

Modern  fauna 

The  axe  of  Saint- 
Acheul  (fig.  13-14^ 

Arrow  head  of  Moiis 
tier  (fig.  15-17) 

Arrow  head  of  So- 
Intre  (fig.  18) 

The    polished     axe 
(fig.  19) 

Hence  we  see  that  M.  Broca  adopts  the  stratigraphi- 
cal  data  established  by  M.  Belgrand,  and,  that  in  deter- 
mining the  palseontological  data,  he  admits,  with  M.  Hamy, 
an  intermediate  age  between  that  of  the  mammoth  and 
of  the  reindeer,  that  is,  an  age  corresponding  to  the 
middle  of  the  quaternary  epoch.  At  this  period,  several 
species  contemporary  with  the  mammoth  had  already  dis- 
appeared; others  were  nearly  extinct;  while  the  reindeer, 
on  the  contrary,  was  becoming  more  common,  since  it 
was  altogether  predominant  in  the  following  age,  to  which 
it  gives  its  name. 

As  for  the  data  founded  upon  archaeology,  that  is  on 
the  greater  or  less  degree  of  perfection  attained  by  the 
workmanship  of  stone  during  the  archseolithic  period, 
M.  Broca  reduces  them  to  three  principal  ones,  and  cha- 
racterises each  representative  type  nearly  in  the  same  way 
as  M.  de  Mortillet  has  done. 

Finally,  applying  this  classification  to  the  caves  of 
Perigord,  he  ranges  them  in  the  following  chronological 
order : — 

1.  Moustier,  the  earliest  of  the  caves  in  Dordogne. 

2.  Cro-INIagnon,  more  recent  than  the  preceding,  but 
belonging  equally  to  the  intermediate  age. 

3.  Laugerie  Haute  and  Grorge-d'Enfer,  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Yezere,  already  form  part  of  the  reindeer  age. 

•  M.  Broca  justly  remarks  that  though  they  are  called  recent  as 
compared  to  the  quaternary  beds  proper,  the  epithet  is  unsuited  to  them 
from  the  point  of  view  of  our  modern  chronology,  since  the  lapse  of 
several  centuries  was  required  for  the  formation  of  some  of  them. — 
ilievue  Soieiitijique,  Nov.  IG,  1872.) 


Satxt-Acheul  Typf.. 

i'lu.  13.  Frout  view. 


Axe,  carved  ox  both  sides. 
Fig.  14.  Side  view. 


MousTiEu  Tyip:.    Lance  heap  carved  only  on  one  side. 
Fig.  15.  Uncut  surface.  Fiu.  IG.  Side  view.  Fiu.  17.  Carved  surface. 


70 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 


4.  Laugerie  Basse,  Eyzies,  and  la  Madelaine  form  a 
group  which  brings  us  down  to  the  totaJ  disappearance  of 
the  reindeer  from  France,  and  consequently  to  the  end  of 
the  quaternary  epoch,  succeeded  by  the  modern  or  neo- 
lithic period.^ 


Fig.  18.  Soi.utre  Type. 
Lance  head. 


Fig.  19.  Poltshko  stoxe  axe. 
(After  Lubbock.    '  Prehistoric  man.') 


All  these  are  doubtless  laudable  attempts,  and  they 
throw  some  light  on  a  subject  which  still  remains  somewhat 
obscure ;  but  each  author  has  his  own  dijstinct  system,  and 

'  Some  facts  observed  at  Braniqncl,  at  Solutre,  and  in  the  cave  of 
Duruthy,  seem  to  indicate  that  the  reindeer  became  extinct  in  France 
towards  the  beginning  of  the  neolithic  period. 


QUATERNARY  FAUNA.  71 

it  is  difficult  to  decide  to  which  to  give  the  preference,  not 
as  being  the  most  convenient,  but  the  most  correct. 

However,  it  is  undeniable  that  these  essays  are  useful, 
since  they  connect  the  abundant  facts  of  past  ages,  deter- 
mine their  chronological  sequence,  and  in  a  word  illustrate 
the  history  of  quaternary  man.  Unfortunately,  the  classi- 
fication drawn  up  by  the  authors  of  these  various  attempts, 
ingenious  as  they  are,  cannot  always  be  pronounced  strictly 
accurate,  and  they  do  not  present  that  concord  and  har- 
mony which  is  one  of  the  distinguishing  marks  of  truth. 
They  may  nevertheless  be  adopted  provisionally  until  the 
progress  of  science,  or  the  chances  of  the  future,  furnish 
ns  with  a  better  guide. 

IV.    QUATERNAIIY    FAUNA.     INHABITANTS    OF    THE 
BONE    CAVES. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  quaternary  epoch  the  mastodon 
existed  no  longer,  at  least  in  Europe,*  nor  the  Elephas 
nieridionalis  of  the  sand-pits  of  Saint-Prest.  The  Hippo- 
potamus  major  and  the  Rhinoceros  MerJdi  and  lepAorldniis 
of  the  pleiocene  period  were  still  living.  But  the  quater- 
nary fauna  properly  so  called,  is  chiefly  represented  among 
us  by  the  mammoth,  the  Rhinoceros  tichorhinus,  the  cave 
bear,  cave  hyena,  great  cave  lion,  the  Irish  elk,  &c.,  which 
ended  by  yielding  place  to  the  reindeer,  to  the  glutton, 
the  musk  ox,  the  Saiga  antelope,  the  chamois,  the  wild 
^oat,  and  the  marmoset,  which  at  a  later  date  migrated 
to  other  districts.  We  may  add  to  this  list  nearly  all  the 
animals  living  at  the  present  day,  and  which  appear  to 
be  the  more  or  less  modified  descendants  of  quaternary 
species.  Of  these  then  some  are  extinct ;  such  as  Ursus 
spelfBus,  Hycena  spjekea,  Felis  spelcca,  Elephas  primi- 
genius^  Rhinoceros  tichorhinus,  Megaceros  hibernicus, 
to  which  we  must  add  the  Machairodus  cultridens  and 
latidens  (R.  Owen)  found  in  certain  caves  of  France  and 
England.  Other  species  still  living;  lemming,  lagomys, 
glutton,  arctic  fox,  reindeer,  musk  ox,  have  migrated 
towards  the  north  of  Europe,  and  even  to  America.    Others, 

'  This  animal  lived  in  America  during  the  quaternary  period. 


72  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

on  the  contrary  have  gained  the  east  (Saiga  antelope, 
hamster),  or  the  south,  or  have  no  longer  any  kindred 
species  except  in  the  hottest  regions  of  Africa  and  Asia 
(hippopotamus,  elephant,  lion,  hyena). 

Others  have  taken  refuge  on  the  summits  of  the  Alps 
and  Pyrenees  (chamois,  wild  goat,  marmoset)  or  have  dis- 
appeared from  our  countries  since  the  beginning  of  history ; 
such  for  example  is  the  urus  {Bos  primigenius), -which  in 
the  time  of  Csesar  still  inhabited  the  Hercynian  forest  and 
even  the  great  woods  of  the  Vosges  and  other  parts  of 
Lorraine  (Godron). 

Others  have  fled  before  man,  their  improvident  de- 
stroyer. Of  these  are  the  aurochs  (Bison  europceus), 
restricted  at  the  present  day  to  the  forests  of  Lithuania, 
with  the  exception,  however,  of  a  few  scattered  individuals 
recently  found  wild  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Caucasus  ; 
the  lynx,  which,  according  to  Cuvier,  has  almost  entirely 
disappeared  from  inhabited  districts,  but  which  is  still  to 
be  found  in  the  Pyrenees  and  even  in  Africa ;  the  beaver, 
formerly  very  common  among  us,  and  now  banished  to 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  where  it  is  only  to 
be  found  in  small  numbers ;  the  mouflon,  which  M.  Bour- 
guignat  says  he  found  in  the  cave  of  Vence  in  Provence, 
and  which  now  exists  only  in  the  islands  of  Sardinia  and 
Corsica.  Others,  finally,  have  remained  in  those  same 
districts  where  we  find  at  the  present  day  the  bones  of 
their  earliest  ancestors  :  the  wolf,  the  dog,  the  fox,  the 
badger,  the  otter,  the  mole,  the  hedgehog,  the  common 
stag,  the  ox,  the  wild  boar,  the  horse,  &c. 

Birds,  reptiles,  fishes,  and  molluscs,  of  similar  or  analo- 
gous species  to  those  now  existing,  are  also  to  be  found  in 
the  caves  of  Europe  ;  but  these  are  in  small  number  as  com- 
pared to  mammalia.  With  regard  to  fishes,  M.  Ed.  Lartet  has 
made  an  important  observation  :  they  are  rare  or  common 
in  proportion  to  the  remote  or  recent  date  of  the  bone 
caves.  For  instance,  in  the  caves  of  Aurignac  (Haute  Ga- 
ronne), of  Moustier,  of  Gorge  d'Enfer  (Dordogne),  and  of  la 
Chaise (Charente),  they  are  distinguished  by  the  presence  of 
the  unbarbed  arrow,  and  where  not  a  single  fishbone  has 


BIRDS   RECENTLY    EXTINCT.  73 

beeu  hitlierto  discovered.  We  are  left  in  uncertainty  as 
to  whether  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  our  lands  were 
possessed  of  tackle  sufficiently  perfect  to  procure  them- 
selves an  abundance  of  fish,  or  whether,  as  is  highly 
improbable,  they  were  in  the  habit  of  eating  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  the  raw  fish  they  had  just  caught.  On  the 
other  hand,  fish  abound  in  caves  of  more  recent  date, 
where  barbed  arrows  and  harpoons  are  found,  in  la  Made- 
laine,  at  Eyzies,  at  Bruniquei,  &c. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  birds,  which  are  also  less 
abundant  where  arrow  heads  with  a  double  range  of  barbed 
points  are  wanting.  This  fact  had  been  already  noticed 
by  ^I.  Brun,  before  M.  Ed.  Lartet  called  attention  to  it. 
With  regard  to  birds,  only  two  species  have  become  ex- 
tinct in  Europe  since  the  quaternary  epoch,  and  nearly  in 
our  own  time,  the  grouse  (Tetrao  urogallus)  and  the  great 
penguin  [Alca  impennis\  which  are  no  longer  found  in 
Denmark.  But  cases  are  numerous  among  the  birds  of 
the  Isles  of  Bourbon  and  Mauritius,  of  Madagascar  and 
New  Zealand.^ 

No  species,  either  among  reptiles,  fish,  or  invertebrate 
animals,  has  lately  become  extinct  excepting  the  Cyrena 
flicminalis,  which  lived  formerly  in  the  Somme  and  the 
Thames,  and  which  is  now  confined  to  the  waters  of  the 
Nile  and  certain  rivers  of  Asia.^ 

>  The  dinornis  and  the  epyornis  are  two  gigantic  birds,  something 
like  the  ostrich ;  the  one  found  in  the  most  recent  strata  of  New 
Zealand,  the  other  in  the  modern  alluvium  of  the  Isle  of  Madagascar. 
The  height  of  the  latter  was  about  16  feet,  its  eggs  were  equal  in 
capacity  to  six  ostrich  eggs,  to  148  hens'  eggs,  to  50,000  humming 
birds'  eggs.  One  of  them  which  I  was  enabled  to  see  and  measure  at 
Toulouse  had  the  following  dimensions  : — 

m. 

Great  diameter 1  ft.  8  in. 

Little  diameter 9  in. 

Thickness  of  the  shell  .  .  .  .  1  to  2  lines. 
Finally,  it  could  contain  nearly  2  gallons  of  water.  One  of  the  eggs  of 
the  epyornis  described  by  Saint-Hilaire  was  still  larger.  Hence  we 
readily  conceive  that  the  Malagasy  use  them  as  provision  vessels,  and 
even,  it  is  said,  as  saucepans.  It  is  not  quite  certain  that  these  birds 
are  completely  extinct.  The  dodo,  nearly  akin  to  our  gallinaceous 
birds,  was  still  extant  in  Mauritius  in  1026. 

2  Certain  crusiacea  {Gammarus  loricatiis  and  Mysis  relicta),  whose 


74  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN   KACE. 

All  the  species  of  mammalia  which  we  have  already 
named  as  occm:ring  in  the  caves  of  Europe  are  not  equally 
and  uniformly  distributed  among  them.  In  some  the 
pachydermata  and  the  great  carnivora  are  predominant, 
especially  the  hyenas  (^e.g.  Kirkdale  in  Lancashire,  Lunel- 
viel  in  Herault).  Elsewhere  (in  the  caves  of  Franconia, 
of  Osselles,  of  Nabrigas,  of  Herm,  &c.)  the  bears  are  more 
abundant,  sometimes  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  species. 
In  a  great  many  districts  (Bize,  Bruniquel,  la  Madelaine, 
Eyzies),  the  reindeer  predominates,  nearly  always  accom- 
panied by  other  ruminants  of  the  genera  hos,  cervus,  and 
ovibos,  and  even  by  the  cave  bear  and  other  great  pachy- 
dermata then  gradually  disappearing. 

It  was  for  a  long  time  believed  that  the  reindeer  was 
only  to  be  found  in  the  bone  caves.  Kecently  discovered 
facts  have  proved  this  to  be  a  mistake  which  it  is  im- 
portant to  correct.  In  a  diluvian  bed  in  the  Thames 
valley,  that  of  Acton,  which  resembles  in  all  particulars 
that  of  the  valley  of  the  S.  )mme,  Colonel  Lane  Fox  found 
the  bones  of  Cervus  tarandus  intermixed  with  those  of 
Hippopotamus  major,  of  Elephas  prim^igenius,  of  Rhino- 
cen'os  hoiinitcechus,  of  Bos  prim^igenius,  and  of  Bison 
priscus,  in  company  with  flint  implements  of  the  rudest 
workmanship.  Some  months  after  this  discovery  by 
Colonel  Lane  Fox,  M.  Chantre  observed  in  the  sediment 
of  the  Ehone  basin  a  curious  assemblage  of  species  of 
the  quaternary  fauna,  among  which  figured  the  Cervus 
tarandus.  Finally,  the  bones  of  the  reindeer  were  found 
at  Schiissenried  in  Suabia  on  a  moraine  of  an  ancient 
Rhine  glacier ;  ^  a  new  proof  that  this  animal  lived  in 

origin  dates  from  the  glacial  period,  are  still  extant  in  Sweden,  in  Lakes 
Wenner  and  Wetter.  Moreover,  recent  soundings  made  on  the  coasts  of 
Europe  and  America  have  raised  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea  terebratnlcs 
and  sea  urchins  similar  to  those  found  in  the  chalk  of  the  hill  of  Meudon, 
of  the  cliffs  of  the  coast  of  England,  and  of  the  plains  of  Champagne. 

*  At  Schiissenried  reindeer  bones  were  found  on  the  moraine  of  an 
ancient  Rhine  glacier,  in  company  with  those  of  the  glutton  and  of  the 
arctic  fox,  with  remains  of  mosses  which  are  now  only  found  in  the 
most  northern  regions  of  Europe.  The  bones  of  this  animal  were  so 
abun(hint  in  the  above  mentioned  place  that  Professor  Fraas  was  enabled, 
by  making  an  anatomical  selection  among  them,  to  reconstruct  an  entire 
akeleton,  now  in  the  museum  at  Stuttgard.     lieindeer  bones  were  also 


DISTRIBUTION    OF  QUATERNARY   FAUNA.  75 

Siiabia  during  the  glacial  period,  perhaps  even  during  the 
interval  which  elapsed  between  the  two  glacial  periods 
which  have  left  their  traces  in  Switzerland.  Its  existence 
in  France  long  after  the  extinction  of  the  great  pachyder- 
mata,  of  which  event  moreover  the  exact  date  is  entirely 
unknown  to  us,  is  rendered  more  than  probable  by  the 
discovery  of  its  bones  intermixed  with  those  of  the  horse 
and  the  ox  in  the  caves  of  Bethenas  and  of  la  Balme  in 
Dauphin e,  and  further  by  implements  of  the  neolithic 
age,  perhaps  even  of  the  age  of  bronze,  found  with  these 
same  bones  at  Bruniquel,  As  for  the  Saiga,  M.  Albert 
Gaudry  has  lately  shown  that  this  species  of  antelope 
lived  in  the  reindeer  age  not  only  in  Perigord  but  also  in 
Angoumois,  and  that  our  ancestors  fed  upon  the  flesh  of 
this  beautiful  animal. 

In  short,  the  quaternary  fauna  resembles  our  modern 
fauna,  which  is  merely  the  continuation  of  it ;  but  the 
former  is  richer,  more  varied,  better  nourished,  and  conse- 
quently more  vigorous  than  ours.  However,  in  spite  of 
their  greater  size,  the  diluvian  mammalia,  like  those  of 
the  tertiary  rocks,  had,  it  seems,  a  relatively  small  brain, 
and  perhaps  a  shorter  life  than  those  of  modern  times. 

We  are  struck  by  the  strange  association,  especially  in 
the  quaternary  fauna,  often  in  an  extremely  narrow  circle, 
of  species  so  numerous  and  so  distinct  either  in  their 
habits  or  with  regard  to  the  geographical  distribution  of 
kindred  species  now  extant.  We  shall  shortly  examine 
the  cause  of  this  phenomenon,  which  has  long  perplexed 
palaeontologists,  and  which  has  lately  found  a  satisfactory  so 
lution  in  the  knowledge  of  the  distribution  of  land  and  water 
in  Europe  at  the  time  when  these  animals  lived  in  Europe. 

As  an  example  of  the  singular  assemblage  of  species  of 
which  we  are  speaking,  we  shall  presently  quote  the  list  of 
those  which,  according  to  M.  ]Merk,  were  found  together  in 
the  Kesslerloch,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Thayngen.  See 
p.  78. 

found  in  abundance  at  Thayngen,  and  in  the  cave  of  Pont-du-Gard. 
Tills  animal  advanced,  therefore,  further  towards  the  east  of  Europe 
than  it  was  originally  believed. — (^Revuc  Scivutijiquv,  Jan.  11  and  25^ 
1873,  pp.  G65  and  7i2.j 


76 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OP  THE  HUMAN   EACE. 


Principal  Mammalia  of  the  Caves  of  France,  or  of 
THE  Diluvium. 


Extant  in  the  districts 

Extinct  or  highly  modified 

Migi'ated 

where  they  are  now  found 
in  a  fossil  state 

Hyaena  spelaea 

Cape  hyena 

Bat  (several  species) 

Felis  spelfea 

Aurochs 

Shrew  mouse 

Elephas  primigenius 

Reindeer 

Hedgehog 

Ursus  spelffius 

Elk 

Dormouse 

Machairodus  cultridens 

Canadian  stag 

Water  rat 

Rhinoceros  tichorhinus 

Virginian  stag 

Common  bear 

Rhinoceros  hjemitiechus 

Lagomys 

Badger 

Equus  lartetianus 

Lemming 

Wolf 

Megaceros  hibernicus 

Spermophilus 

Urus 

1 

Bomestio  Animals 

Dog 

Marmoset 

Fox 

Horse 

Chamois 

Polecat 

Ox 

Wild  goat 

Weasel 

Goat 

Beaver 

Marten 

Sheep 

Musk  ox 

Rabbit 

Pig 

Saiga 

Hare 

Fallow  deer 
Roe  deer 

Red  deer 

Fauna  of  the  English  Caves. 

We  think  it  desirable  to  give  for  the  sake  of  comparison 
the  list  of  animals  and  of  the  products  of  art  found  in 
Kent's  Cavern,  near  Torquay.  The  following  list,  drawn  up 
by  Evans,  is  the  enumeration  of  the  species  whose  bones 
were  found  in  the  red  loam  underlying  a  thick  layer  of 
stalagmite. 


MaGhairodus  latidens . 

Felis  leo,  var.  speloia,  cave  lion  . 

HycBiia  eroouta,  var.  sj>elcBa,  cave  hytena 

(Janis  lupus,  wolf 

Canis  vxilpes,  var.  speZceus^  large  fox 

Gulo  hiscHs,  glutton    . 

Ursus  spelaus,  cave -bear     . 

UrsKS  2^risous  =ferox,  grizzly  bear 

Ursus  arctos,  brown  bear    . 

Ekpkas  primigenius,  mammoth . 


very  rare 
abundant 
ver}-  abundant 
rare 


very  rare 
abundant 


scarce 

not  very  common 


OBJECTS   FOUND   IN   THE   OSSIFEROUS  SFDniKXT       77 


Jihinoccros  fichorhhtun,  woolly  rliinoceros 

£fj flits  0(iha//KK,  horse 

7i(is priiiii//c/iiia<,  urns  ... 

HiKi'/i  j>riscus,  bison    .... 

Cernis  nu'(f<iccros,  Irish  elk 

CervKs     clajthus    {StroiK/ijloceros    .ywlwux 

Owen),  stag 

Cernia  tnra/nlits,  reindeer  . 

At'lJiis  timidus  (var.  dilu nanus  .')  hare 

La{i<iwi/s  spchrus  cave  pika 

Ari'irolu  amj/Iiihiiis,  water  vole  . 

A.  nf/rcstis,  field  vole  .... 

A.  j>rafe//sis,  bank  vole 

Castor  Jiber,  beaver     .... 


abun<1;mt 

very  abundant 

scarce 

abundant 

not  uncommon 

abundant 

rare 

very  rare 
rare 

very  rare 
scarce  ' 


Animals  n-hosc  remains  were  found  in  the  led  of  Mack  mould 
above  the  stalagmite. 

Dog 

bhort-horn  ox  {Bos 

lonrjifrons) 
Roe  deer 
Sheep 
Goat 
Pig 
Rabbit 


That  is,  the  fauna  of  the  present 
day,  accompanied  by  instruments 
of  the  polished  stone  and  bronze 
ages. 


In  Other  bone  caves  of  Great  Britain,  the  following 
species  have  been  found : 

Rh i noceros  hcemitccchus. 

Rhinoceros  inegarhinus, 

Elej^has  antiqaus. 

Cervus  Guettardi  (a  variety  of  the  reindeer). 

Lemming. 

In  the  diluvian  gravel  beds  two  molluscs  occur  which 
no  longer  exist  in  England  {Hydrobla  marfj'uiaia,  and 
Corh  icida  fl  aminalis). 

Objects  of  Hum.\n  Industry  found  IxV  the  Ossiferous 
Sediment. 

Flint  implements  of  the  types  of  Saint-Acheul,  of 
Aurignac,  of  :Moustier,  of  Laugerie  Haute  ;  barbed  har- 

•  Note  the  absence  of  Orihos  moschatus,  or  musk  ox,  both  in  the  caves 
and  diluvian  gravel  beds  of  England.  The  birds  and  lish  found  in 
Kent's  Hole  have  not  yet  been  determined.  See  Kvans,  Ancient  >'Stoue 
Implements  and  M'eajwns  of  Great  Uritain,  jjp.  4G2,  40^. 


78 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 


poons  and  arrows,  fish  hooks,  pins  and  needles  of  bone, 
nearly  resenibling  similar  objects  found  at  la  Madelaine 
(Dordogne). 

Fauna  of  the  Cave  of  Kesslerloch,  near  Thayngen  (Switzer- 
land),  ACCORDING  TO   THE  LiST  OF   M.   MeRK. 

Number  of  Specimens 


'  1.  Cave  lion    . 

3 

Extinct  animals     . 

2.  Mammoth  . 

3.  Rhinoceros 

4.  Bear   . 

.     4-6 
.     1-2 

1 

r 

5.  Reindeer     . 

.     250 

Towards  the  north  . 

6.  Glutton 

4 

7.  Arctic  fox  . 

3 

C   8.  Chamois      . 

1 

tn 

Towards  the  MPS.         •  )  ,«;  1™  ft.e 

1 

.     500 

rs 

,11.  Marmoset  . 

1 

1 

'S 
1^ 

Towards  America    . 

12.  Wapiti 

13.  Canis  lagopus 

I 

40-60 

'?.- 

Towards  the  Alps 

14.  T-agoped     . 

.       80 

a» 

'15.  Aurochs 

6 

I 
S 

16.  Red  deer     . 

6 

17.  Bear   . 

2  3 

18.  Lynx  . 

3 

To  neighbouring  countries- 

19.  Wild  cat     . 

I 

20.  Wolf  . 

.       17 

21.  Swan  . 

1 

22.  Wild  goose. 

2 

. 

^23.  Osprey 

1 

w   ( 

24.  European  fox 

.     2-8 

^  1  Still  in  the  land      . 

25.  Hare  . 

2 

a  \ 

26.  Crow  . 

3 

< 

^  Domesticated. 

|27.  Dog  ? 
128.  Horse. 

1 
20 

V.  BONES  OF   WOUNDED  ANIMALS  EOUND  IN  THE 
CAVES. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  wrought  flints  are  works  '  which 
no  freak  of  nature,  no  agency  but  a  human  hand,  guided 
by  a  human  mind,  could  have  produced '  (A.  Gaudry),  w^e 
may  say  the  same  with  still  more  certainty  of  the  bones 
of  extinct  or  migrated  species  which  bear  the  unmistake- 
able  marks  of  wounds  made  by  man,  or  the  no  less  evident 
trace  of  an  industry  which  reveals  an  art,  doubtless  rude, 
but  already  animated  by  a  lively  sense  of  nature.  We 
will  consider  the  former  in  the  first  instance. 


BONES   OF  WOUNDED   ANIMALS.  79 

Tn  liis  '  Ivecherclics  sur  les  Ossemcnts  Fossilcs,'  vol.  iv. 
p.  31H),  Ciivicr  speaks  of  a  liead  of  cave  hyena  (of  Gailen- 
reiitli)  whose  occiput  had  been  fractured,  and  which  had 
recovered  from  the  wound;  JNlarcel  de  Serres  has  observed 
a  similar  fracture  on  the  skull  of  an  Hycena  spekm  (of 
Lunel-viel),  whose  left  parietal  bone  was  cleft  through  the 
whole  thickness  of  the  bone,  a  wound  produced,  he  thought, 
by  the  tooth  of  some  other  carnivorous  animal. ^  But  it 
seems  more  natural  to  attribute  these  wounds  to  some 
weapon  (flint  javelin,  or  arrow)  thrown  by  man,  for  since 
the  time  at  which  these  observations  were  made  by  the 
authors  whom  I  have  quoted,  several  authentic  examples 
of  this  kind  of  wound  have  been  noted  by  trustworthy 
observers.  I  myself  excavated  from  the  cave  of  Nabrigas,^ 
in  Lozere,  a  skull  of  Ursus  sjjelwus,  which  presented  a 
marked  depression  on  the  right  frontal  bone,  and  in  the 
centre  of  this  depression  a  circular  hole,  whose  smooth  and 
polished  edges  indicate  that  a  wound  made  by  some  sharp 
projectile  had  begun  to  cicatrise.  Supposing  that  a  combat 
had  taken  place  between  this  bear  and  one  of  its  own 
kind,  it  is  more  than  doubtful,  in  my  opinion,  that  one  of 
the  canine  teeth  of  the  latter  could  have  thus  pierced  and 
fractured  one  of  the  frontal  bones,  while  the  other  left  not 
the  slightest  trace  upon  the  skull.  The  wound  in  ques- 
tion seems  to  me  therefore  to  have  been  made  by  some 
missile  thrown  by  a  human  hand. 

Admiral  Wauchope  affirms  that  he  has  seen  a  stone 
hammer  imbedded  in  the  skull  of  an  Irish  elk  (Cervus 
megaceros),  and  even  several  heads  of  other  animals  of 
the  same  species  wounded  in  like  manner.  On  an  entire 
skeleton  of  Bos  urus  (the  urus  of  Csesar)  dug  in  the 
presence  of  Nilsson  from  out  a  deep  peat  moss  of  Southern 
Scandinavia,  he  observed  the  first  lumbar  vertebra  pierced 
from  in  front  by  a  javelin  armed  with  a  flint  head,  which 
had  been  thrown  with  such  force  that  the  point  had  pene- 

•  Marcel  de  Serres,  Ussui  sur  les  cavernes  a  ossementSy  p.  1G5.     Paris, 
1838. 

*  See  N.  Joly,  Note  s^tr  une  nouveUe  carerne  a  casements  {Lozere),  in 
the  Bibliothique  Universelle  de  Geneve  (1835.) 


80 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 


trated  into  the  next  vertebra,  in  which  it  remained  im- 
bedded.^ Professor  Steenstrup  possessed,  in  his  collection, 
fossil  skulls  of  stags  found  in  the  kitchen  middens,  con- 
taining, incrusted  in  the  bone,  splinters  of  flint,  doubtless 
broken  off  from  some  missile  thrown  by  the  hunter.  Lastly, 
MM.  Lartet  and  Christy  have  given  an  illustration  in 
their  interesting  work  on  the  caves  of  Perigord,  of  the 
vertebra  of  a  young  reindeer  pierced  by  a  flint  arrow, 
which  had  remained  in  the  wound  (fig.  20\ 

The  Toulouse  Museum  of  Natural  History  possesses 
the  lower  maxillary  of  an  Ursus  spelcmis,  of  which  one 


Fig.  20.  Vkrtebra  of  a  reixdeek,  with  flixt  arrow  head   imbedded 

in  the  bone. 

(After  Ed.  Lartet  and  Christy.) 


branch,  vio 


iolently  broken  in  two,  resumed  its  functions 
after  a  complete  cicatrisation.  In  what  manner  and  on 
what  food  the  animal  lived  during  the  necessarily  very 
slow  formation  of  the  bone,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  That 
the  wound  in  question  was  made  by  man  seems  extremely 
probable,  we  cannot  say  it  is  certain,  since  it  is  just  pos- 
sible that  the  animal  may  have  broken  its  jawbone  by 
falling  from  a  rock. 

As  for  the  bones  which  bear  the  marks  of  regular  in- 
cisions more  or  less  deep,  although  they  have  sometimes 

»  Sven  Nilsson,  The  Primitive  Iiihahitauts  of  Scandinavia,  p.  169, 

London,  18G8. 


nu:MAN   BONES   IN   THE   CAVES.  81 

given  rise  to  strange  mistakes,  the  bones  of  halitheriuTa 
found  at  Pouance  for  instance,'  it  is  known  that  palaeon- 
tologists set  a  high  value  on  those  of  the  pleiocene  beds 
of  ISaint-Prest  (AY<^jj»/uis  meridlonalis),  of  the  quaternary 
deposits  of  the  Somme  valley  (Rhinoceros  meridionaUs), 
or  of  the  channel  of  the  Ourcq  (Megaceros  }iihernicus\ 
not  to  mention  the  incisions  made  with  a  flint  tool  on  a 
quantity  of  reindeer  bones,  with  the  evident  purpose  of 
cutting  the  tendons  near  to  their  root,  in  order  to  use  them 
for  sewing.  All  these  facts  prove  nothing  less  than  the 
certain  existence  of  man  at  an  epoch  far  anterior  to  all 
historical  tradition. 

We  must  not  close  this  chapter  without  saying  a  few 
words  about  the  fractured  jawbones  of  the  cave  bear 
and  lion,  which  M.  Garrigou  believes  to  have  been  used 
by  man  as  defensive  weapons.  It  seems  more  natural  to 
attribute  these  fractures  to  a  simpler  cause  than  that  which 
has  been  assigned.  The  dental  canal  of  these  maxillaries 
is  enormous,  and  the  disappearance  of  the  dental  nerve 
after  they  have  been  buried  for  a  short  time  leaves  a  con- 
siderable hollow,  and  age  and  damp  render  the  slightest 
shock  sufficient  to  break  the  bone  at  its  weakest  point. 
This  may  account  for  the  fracture,  which  is  always  in  the 
same  place,  observed  on  the  numerous  jawbones  of  Ursus 
spekeus  in  the  Natural  History  Museum  of  Toulouse. 
We  give  this  explanation  with  the  more  confidence  that 
our  opinion  on  this  point  was  shared  at  the  session  of  the 
Congress  of  Bologna  by  Professor  Steenstrup,  of  Copen- 
hagen, a  savant  whose  weight  as  an  authority  will  certainly 
not  be  denied. 

VI.  ENTIRE  HUMAN  SKELETONS  FOUND  IN  THE 
CAVES.  WOUNDED  HUMAN  BONES.  FRACTURED 
SKULLS. 

Although  the  caves  have  at  every  epoch  served  as 
dwellings,  and  frequently   also   as   burial    places,    entire 

'  It  is  now  generally  known  that  Sir  Charles  Lyell  and  many  other 
palaeontologists  attribute  to  the  teeth  of  the  dog-fish  (carcfiaro(li)/t)  the 
supposed  human  incisions  which  have  been  observed  by  certain  scien- 
tific men  on  the  bones  of  the  Juilitheriam  found  in  the  shell  marl  of 
Pouance. 


82  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUIVIAN  EACE. 

human  skeletons  are  rarely  found  in  them.  AVhen  this 
does  occur,  it  generally  shows  that  the  corpse  was  buried 
in  the  fossil-bearing  stratum  long  after  its  formation.  JNI. 
Cartailhac,  indeed,  asserts  that  all  the  researches  he  has 
made  justify  him  in  declaring  that  every  complete  human 
skeleton  found  in  the  caves  may  be  considered,  a  prioriy 
as  of  later  date  than  the  fluviatile  deposit  in  which  it  is 
contained. 

This  is,  perhaps,  too  sweeping  an  assertion,  but  it 
should  be  remembered  by  those  palaeontologists  who  wish 
to  avoid  such  mistakes  as  have  been  made,  especially  with 
regard  to  the  human  remains  of  Herm  and  Aurignac. 

Schmerling,who  has  explored  forty-eight  Belgian  caves, 
found  human  bones  in  only  two  or  three  of  them.  Lund, 
out  of  800  Brazilian  caves,  which  he  examined,  found 
only  six  containing  human  remains.  These  bones  are 
always  rather  rare  in  the  ossiferous  caves  belonging  to  the 
oldest  stone  age,  but  they  become  fairly  common  in  the 
reindeer  epoch,  and  still  more  so  in  the  neolithic  age. 

If  I  am  not  mistaken,  we  possess  hitherto  only  four 
or  five  authentic  examples  of  the  complete  human  skeleton, 
belonging  undoubtedly  to  a  very  ancient  epoch,  the  true 
palaeolithic  age.  The  first  was  discovered  at  Laugerie 
Basse  (Dordogne)  by  MM.  Massenat,  Lalande,  and  Car- 
tailhac, in  a  layer  containing  carved  reindeer  bones,  an 
evidently  undisturbed  stratum,  for  it  was  covered  with 
enormous  blocks,  detached  from  the  rock  which  formed 
the  vaulted  roof  of  the  shelter  which  served  as  a  refuge  to 
the  troglodytes  of  the  reindeer  age,  and  which  was  pre- 
ferred by  them  to  other  homes.  The  authors  of  this  dis- 
covery rightly  judged  from  these  facts  that  they  beheld 
the  victim  of  a  landslip,  which  occasionally  took  place  at 
that  remote  epoch,  as  in  our  own  day,  and  of  which  the 
traces  still  exist. 

The  skeleton  of  Laugerie  Basse  was  lying  on  its  side, 
and  appeared  to  have  originally  been  in  a  crouching  posture. 
The  left  hand  lay  under  the  left  parietal  bone,  the  right 
upon  the  neck.  The  elbows  fell  nearly  to  the  knees ;  one  foot 
was  close  to  the  pelvis.     The  vertebral  column  had  been 


ENTIRE  SKELETONS.  83 

crushed  by  the  corner  of  a  great  block,  and  the  pelvis  was 
broken ;  but  all  the  bones  retained  their  natural  positions 
or  were  little  removed  from  them.  In  a  word,  this  skele- 
ton presented  exactly  the  appearance  of  a  startled  man, 
raising  his  hands  to  his  head,  and  making  himself  suddenly 
as  small  as  possible.  Near  the  skeleton,  and  scattered  in 
pairs, lay  shells  {Gyprceapyrurri  and  Cypvcua  lurida)  which 
had  no  doubt  served  to  adorn  some  garment.  Two  pairs  of 
these  shells  lay  on  the  forehead,  one  pair  nearly  touching 
each  humerus,  four  for  the  knees,  and  two  at  each  foot. 

The  skeleton  of  Laugerie  Basse  is  then  a  well  authen- 
ticated example  of  human  remains  contemporary  with  the 
reindeer.  Unfortunately,  the  authors  of  this  important 
discovery  have  given  us  no  detailed  account  of  character- 
istics of  the  skeleton  in  question,  which  is  so  much  the 
more  to  be  regretted  that  it  would  have  been  of  great 
interest  to  compare  its  skull  with  those  of  Bruniquel,  of 
Furfooz,  of  Cro-Magnon,  and  with  all  those  of  the  reindeer 
age,  and  even  of  earlier  epochs. 

Another  entire  skeleton,  buried  in  the  caves  of  the 
archcHDolithic  epoch,  was  found  on  March  26,  1872,  by  M. 
Riviere,  in  one  of  the  bone  caves  of  Mentone,'  at  a  depth 
of  about  twenty-one  feet,  along  with  numerous  flint  and 
bone  implements,^  marine  and  land  shells,  and  bones  of 
mammalia,  among  others  of  Ursus  spelceus,  Hycena  spelcea, 
Felis  antiqua,  &c.  This  skeleton  was  lying  on  the  left 
side,  in  the  attitude  of  a  man  whom  death  had  overtaken 
during  sleep.  A  number  of  perforated  shells  of  Nassa 
neritea^  and  a  few  stag's  teeth,  also  perforated,  were 
scattered  here  and  there  upon  the  skull,  and  it  is  probable 
that  these  teeth  and  shells  were  formerly  part  of  some  head 
ornament ;  other  shells  of  the  same  species,  symmetrically 

•  In  the  cave  of  Cavillon,  the  fourth  bone  cave  of  the  haoussc  rousse 
(a  patfjis  word  for  red  rocks). 

2  These  instruments  belong  to  three  different  types,  those  of  ^Mous- 
tier,  of  la  Madelaine,  and  of  polislied  stone.  There  is  therefore 
reason  to  suppose  that  several  epochs  at  once  are  represented  in  these 
caves.  In  spite  of  several  fractures  the  skull  had  preserved  its  form  : 
it  was  dolichocephalous.  The  vertebral  column,  the  ribs,  and  the  bones 
of  tlie  limbs  were  nearly  intact,  and  lay  in  tlieir  natural  positions. 


84  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  TJIK   HUMAN   RACE. 

arranged,  were  probably  also  the  ornaments  of  the  dress. 
M.  Kiviere  at  the  end  of  his  report  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  skeleton  in  question  '  offers  no  characteristics 
which  in  any  way  proves  it  to  be  akin  to  monkeys,  and 
that  the  human  skulls  which  it  most  nearly  resembles 
are  those  found  at  Cro-Magnon'  (Perigord).  Three  other 
skeletons  presenting  the  same  characters  as  the  above  have 
since  been  found  at  Mentone. 

If  entire  skeletons  are  rare  in  the  caves  of  the  palaeo- 
lithic age,  they  are  on  the  other  hand  fairly  common  in 
the  burial  caves  of  the  neohthic  period.     As  we  shall  have 


Fig.  21.  Fe:male  skill  of  Cro-Magnox,  wounded  in  the  forehead. 
(After  Louis  Lartet.) 

occasion  to  speak  of  these  caves  where  we  treat  of  the 
burial  grounds,  we  need  only  mention  this  fact  in  passing. 

When  isolated  human  bones,  more  or  less  entire,  are 
intermixed  with  the  remains  of  extinct  species,  when  it  is 
certain  that  the  stratum  in  which  they  are  found  has  not 
been  disturbed,  we  may  assume  with  certainty  that  these 
bones  are  really  contemporary  with  the  deposit  in  which 
they  are  imbedded.  But  these  cases  of  indisputable  syn- 
chronism are  rare  (jawbones  of  Arcy,  of  la  Naulette,  &c.). 

Another  criterion  of  the  great  age  of  human  remains 


WOUNDED   HUMAN    BONES.  85 

is  furnivshcd  by  the  wounds  made  liy  stone  weapons,  of 
which  some  among  them  bear  the  marks  or  contain  the 
fragments.  Of  this  number  is  a  human  tibia  found  in  the 
dolmen  of  Font  Kial  in  Aveyron,  which  is  pierced  by  a 
flint-headed  arrow  which  had  remained  in  the  wound  and 
had  produced  considerable  exostosis.  We  may  also  cite 
as  an  example  a  female  skull,  discovered  several  years  ago 
by  M.  Louis  Lartet  in  the  cave  of  Cro-^NIagnon,  and  of 
which  the  frontal  bone  showed  a  wound  in  process  of 
healing,  which  was  probably  produced  by  a  flint  weapon 

The  elder  M.  Lartet,  in  his  remarkable  work,  '  Sur  la 
coexistence  de  I'homme  et  des  grands  mammiferes  fossiles,' 
speaks  of  a  Danish  dolichocephalous  skull  of  the  stone  age 
perforated  by  a  lance-headed  piece  of  the  antler  of  an  elk. 
Beside  this  skull  lay  thirty  or  forty  skeletons  also  of  a 
dolichocephalous  race,  and  near  them  the  stone  weapons 
which  the  conquerors  had  used  to  slay  their  enemies. 

Spring  saw  in  the  cave  of  Chauvaux,  in  Belgium,  a 
human  parietal  bone  in  which  the  flint  axe  which  had 
broken  the  victim's  skull  remained  fixed.  Nilsson,  cited 
by  Lubbock,  says  that  in  a  tomb  of  the  rjeolithic  age 
attributed  to  Albus  McGraldus,  king  of  Scotland,  a  skele- 
ton of  extraordinary  size  was  found  in  1807,  of  which 
one  arm  had  been  almost  separated  from  the  trunk  by  a 
blow  from  an  axe  of  diorite,  of  which  a  fragment  still 
remained  in  the  bone. 

Lastly,  M.Prunieres  discovered,  in  the  caves  of  Baumes- 
Chaudes  in  Lozere,  still  more  convincing  proofs.^  These 
are  human  bones  which  still  contain  the  flint  heads  of  the 
arrows  which  wounded  them.  Often  too  these  flint  arrow- 
heads are  encased  in  a  newly  formed  bony  tissue,  a  clear 
proof  that  they  had  pierced  the  bone  of  the  living  subject 
and  that  the  wounds  had  subsequently  healed.  M. 
Prunieres  has  observed,  moreover,  that  these  flint  arrow 
heads  were  not  like  those  made  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
caves,   but   resembled    those   of  the   inhabitants  of  the 

'  See  the  Bulletin  de  la  Sucictc  d'AntJirojJolof/ie  de  Puris,  p.  215, 
May  16,  1878. 

5 


86 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 


neighbouring  dolmens,  to  whom  therefore  these  wounds 
must  be  attributed. 

Undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  curious  discoveries  which 
has  been  made  of  late  years^  is  that  of  pierced  or  rather 


Fig.  22.  Trepanned  skull  taken  from  a  dolmen,  and  presented  by 
M.  Prunieres  to  the  Museum  of  the  Institut  Anthropologique. 
(Half  natural  size.) 
A  B,  Jlerlian  line  of  tlie  skull,  passing  the  root  of  the  nose  at  A,  the  crown  of  the  head  at 
c,  the  hunbdoid  suture  at  i),  and  the  occiput  at  B  ;  E,  bone  of  the  left  ey(>bro\v  ;  r.  bcme 
of  tlie  right,  fractured  ;  a  6,  siclvle-shaped  edge  of  the  surgical  trepanning  practised  in 
childhood  on  tlie  upper  edge  of  the  left  parietal  bone  ;  dc,  bd,  edges  of  tlie  posthumous 
trepanning.  The  suture,  instead  of  following  the  median  line  c  \),  has  been  drawn 
considerably  to  the  left. 


TllErANNED  SKULLS.  87 

trepanned  human  skulls,  found  by  Dr.  Prunieres  in  the 
cave  oi  Horn  me-m art  in  Lozere  ^  and  in  several  duhuens 
in  the  same  department.  Discs  of  bone,  equal  in  size  to 
the  holes  in  the  skulls  have  been  found,  sometimes  within 
them,  sometimes  separately,  lying  beside  them  or  at  some 
distance.  Many  of  these  are  pierced  by  one  or  two  holes, 
so  as  to  allow  them  to  be  strung  upon  a  cord.  Their 
diameter  varies  from  that  of  a  shilling  to  that  of  a  crown- 
piece  (see  fig.  22).  Some  of  them,  more  or  less  elliptical 
in  shape,  measure  seven  inches  in  length  and  five  in  their 
greatest  width.  M.  Broca  has  made  an  exhaustive  study 
of  the  subject,^  which  is,  thanks  to  his  labours,  now  very 
well  known. 

The  trepanning  was  effected  sometimes  on  the  living 
subject,  sometimes  after  death.  An  incision  in  the  form 
of  a  y  was  first  made  on  the  skin  under  the  hair,  then 
the  bone  was  scraped  with  a  flint  knife,  until  sooner  or 
later  the  disc  or  discs  of  bone  were  detached  from  the  skull ; 
for  sometimes  two  or  three  were  taken  from  one  indi- 
vidual even  while  living.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
cases  in  which  the  operation,  which  is  especially  dangerous 
when  we  consider  the  poverty  of  the  surgical  apparatus  of 
our  ancestors  of  the  stone  age,  proved  fatal,  are  so  rare  that 
out  of  twenty  skulls  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Prunieres,  he 
has  only  observed  one  instance.  All  the  others  present 
unmistakeable  traces  of  a  complete  recovery. 

The  motive  of  this  operation  has  of  course  been  sought, 
and  the  use  of  these  discs  found  in  the  interior  of  the 
cranium  or  in  the  soil  where  the  corpses  had  been  buried. 
We  shall  return  to  this  subject  in  the  chapter  on  Keligion. 
AVe  shall  see  that  the  practice  of  trepanning  persisted 
throughout  the  neolithic  period,  and  that  the  use  of 
thesp  discs  is  the  earliest  proof  of  a  belief  in  a  future  life. 

The  instances  of  human  bones  in  the  caves  which  were 

'  Artificially  perforated  skulls  have  also  been  found  in  the  burial 
caves  of  la  Mariie,  of  Sordes,  in  the  neig-hbourhood  of  Pau,  in  the 
ancient  tombs  of  the  Canary  Isles,  in  the  dolmtns  of  Algeria,  and  even 
in  Mexico  and  Peru. 

2  See  the  Revue  (V Anthropologiey  t.  ii.  p.  18, 1873,  and  t.  vi.  pp  1  an  i 
193,  1877. 


88  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

undoubtedly  contemporary  with  extinct  species  are  rare  ; 
we  purposely  repeat  this  fact,  and  the  greatest  circum- 
spection is  required  before  pronouncing  on  this  kind  of 
synchronism.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  make  the  greatest 
mistakes  on  this  point ;  the  cautious  M.  Ed.  Lartet  him- 
self assumed  that  the  human  bones  of  Aurignac  were 
contemporary  with  those  of  Ursus  spelceus  and  of  the 
mammoth  which  he  had  himself  found  in  the  true  archseo- 
lithic  stratum  of  this  cave,  whereas,  imbedded  in  a  far 
more  recent  layer,  overlying  the  former,  they  dated  in 
reality  from  the  neolithic  age. 

VII.  PROOFS  FURNISHED  BY  THE  CONDITION  OP  THE 
BONES,  AND  THEIR  CHEMICAL   COMPOSITION. 

When  human  bones  are  found  buried  in  the  same 
strata  with  those  of  extinct  species,  and  when  it  is  certain 
that  the  bed  which  contains  them  both  is  virgin  and  undis- 
turbed soil,  we  may  logically  conclude,  as  we  have  said, 
that  these  remains  of  men  and  animals  date  from  the  same 
epoch.  The  similarity  of  appearance,  and  especially  the 
equal  quantity  of  animal  matter  which  they  still  contain, 
duly  considering,  of  course,  the  age  and  nature  of  the 
animal,  give  new  weight  to  this  conclusion.  Now  the 
quantity  of  ossein  is  easily  deduced  from  that  of  the 
nitrogen  discovered  by  chemical  analysis.  In  this  manner 
M.  Delesse  found  that  the  proportion  of  nitrogen  con- 
tained in  the  human  bones  found  at  Aurignac  was  very 
nearly  the  same  as  that  in  the  bones  of  the  bear,  reindeer, 
and  rhinoceros  with  which  the  remains  of  our  own  species 
were  found  associated  in  this  burial  cave.  The  numerous 
analyses  of  M.  Scheurer-Kestner  produced  similar  results, 
and  led  their  author  to  believe  with  M.  Delesse  in  the 
co-existence  of  man  and  the  extinct  species  whose  remains 
were  under  examination. 

The  nature  of  the  bones,  that  of  the  soil,  its  dryness  or 
humidity,  its  permeability  by  air  and  water,  the  more  or 
less  ancient  date  of  burial,  the  depth  at  which  they  lie, 
&c.,  have  a  considerable  effect  on  the  condition  of  the 
bones,  so  that  those  most  recently  buried  are  not  always 


CII1-3IICAL   COMPOSITION    OF   FOSSIL   BONES.  89 

(he  best  preserved.  Hence  M.  Fremy  has  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  proving  that  nothing  is  more  variable '  than  the 
quantity  of  organic  matter  contained  in  fossil  bones; 
some  of  them  no  longer  contain  any  at  all,  others  have  a 
proportion  of  8,  10,  and  even  20  per  cent.  Some  strata 
have  such  a  preserving  power  that  M.  Gimbernat  was  able 
to  make  an  edible  jelly  from  some  bones  of  Elephas 
jjrimigenius,  and  M.  Bibra  made  a  strong  paste  from  the 
bones  of  Ursus  spela^us,  ^Ir.  A.  Milne-Edwards  has  seen  a 
tooth  of  the  last-named  fossil  species,  found  in  the  diluvium 
of  the  neighbourhood  of  Compiegne,  which  still  contained 
sufficient  ossein  to  retain  its  shape,  after  its  calcareous 
substance  had  been  expelled  by  the  action  of  hydrochloric 
acid.  Lastly,  some  bones  of  the  mastodon  found  at  New 
York,  in  1845,  still  contained  27  to  30  per  cent,  of  ani- 
mal matter.  With  bones  so  well  preserved  it  would  then 
be  possible  to  prepare  an  antediluvian  broth,  a  real  soup 
oi pre-adamite  gelatine.  Who  knows  if  this  strange  notion 
may  not  one  day  be  reaKsed  by  the  unceasing  progress  of 
chemistry,  which  every  day  displays  wonders  far  more  sur- 
prising and  of  greater  interest.^ 

The  impossibility  of  determining  by  analysis  the 
precise  age  of  any  bone,  ancient  or  recent,  will  be  easily 
seen  from  the  foregoing  statements.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  bones  under  examination,  belonging  partly  to  the 
human  race,  partly  to  extinct  species,  occupy  the  same  bed 
and  contain  the  same  proportion  of  nitrogenous  matter, 
we  may  admit  with  some  degree  of  certainty  the  synchro- 
nism of  the  analysed  remains.  In  this  way  M.  Scheurer- 
Kestner  satisfied  himself  that  the  skull  of  Eguisheim,  for 
example,  was  of  the  same  date  as  the  bones  of  the  mam- 
moth and  of  the  cave  bear  found  along  with  it.^ 

'  Marrel  de  Serres  bad  long  since  observed  that  the  chemical 
composition  of  the  bones  of  the  caves  and  that  of  the  remains  contained 
in  tlie  tertiary  beds  are  sometimes  absolutely  identical. 

2  This  strange  idea,  of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  was  put  in  execu- 
tion by  German  naturalist  sat  the  congress  of  Tiibingen.  '  They  had  the 
pleasure,'  M.  Cabinet  tells  us,  '  of  eating,  not  a  beefsteak,  buta  soup  of 
mammoth  gelatine.'  See  Iferne  Scicutijiquc,  1S66.  Conference  by  M. 
Babinct  on  the  Glacial  Pennd. 

'  Scheurer-Kestner,  llechcrcUea  Chimiqucs  sur  lis  Osscmcnts  trouves 


90  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE   HUMAN   EAOE. 

From  all  these  facts  we  must  conclude  that  if  the 
chem.ical  analysis  of  bones  can,  in  certain  cases,  and  by 
comparison,  furnish  useful  data  with  respect  to  their  rela- 
tive ages,  it  cannot  tell  us  anything  about  their  absolute 
age.  Hence  again  it  results  that  if  the  doubts  recently 
put  forward  with  regard  to  the  human  bones  of  Aurignac 
have  a  real  foundation,  that  is,  if  these  bones  are  much 
less  ancient  than  those  of  the  cave  bear,  mammoth,  and 
rhinoceros,  considered  as  contemporaneous  by  M.  Ed. 
Lartet,  we  must  also  conclude  that  the  analysis  of  these 
bones  made  by  M.  Delesse  does  not  prove  all  that  which 
he  wished  it  to  show. 

danst  le  Ichm  (TEguisheim.     Annales  dcs  Sciences  XatureUes,  t.  vii.  p.  165, 
1867 


91 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PEAT  MOSSES  AND    THE  KITCHEN  MIDDENS. 

I.    THE   DANISH  PEAT    MOSSES. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  certain  regions  (chiefly  at  the 
bottom  of  gently  sloping  valleys),  and  under  the  influence 
of  certain  conditions,  aquatic  plants,  the  hypmim,  the 
sphagnion,  &c.,  herbaceous  land  plants,  heaths,  and  even 
forest  trees,  heaped  up  in  shallow  waters,  become  inter- 
laced and  partly  decomposed,  and  produce  a  combustible 
of  no  great  value.  This  combustible  is  peat.  Denmark  is 
especially  rich  in  various  kinds  of  peat  beds,  known  in 
that  country  as  engmose  (meadow  marshes),  lyngmose 
(heath  marshes),  and  shovmose  (forest  marshes). 

The  last  alone  deserve  a  few  moments'  attention,  since 
they  show  that  very  different  vegetations  succeeded  each 
other  at  different  epochs  in  the  soil  of  Denmark.  Professor 
Steenstrup,  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  the  subject, 
tells  us  that  a  layer  of  peat,  composed  of  perfectly  recog- 
nisable aquatic  plants  (hyjynuvi),  is  placed  above  the  amor- 
phous, almost  felt-like  peat,  which  occupies  the  centre 
and  bottom  of  the  funnel-shaped  basins  in  which  it  was 
formed.  Stunted  pines,  heaped  one  over  the  other,  still 
occupy  the  place  in  the  marsh  where  they  grew  in  the 
remote  past.  Then  the  sphagnum  takes  the  place  of 
the  hypnaon,  and  the  heath  appears,  along  with  whortle- 
berries, birches,  hazels,  and  alders.  Lastly,  the  Scotch  fir, 
which  once  grew  along  the  borders  of  the  moss,  but  which 
has  long  since  disappeared  from  the  land,  appears  in  great 
abundance,  and  principally  on  the  outer  belt.  These  trees 
now  lie  overturned  in  such  a  way  that  their  roots  are  turned 
towards  the  edge  of  the  basin  and  their  tops  towards  the 


92  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

centre;  they  are  heaped  upon  each  other  and  overlap 
with  such  regularity,  that  they  present  the  appearance  of 
piles  of  timber  artificially  arranged. 

By  degrees  they  disappear  and  are  replaced  by  the 
sessile-leaved  oak  (Quercus  robur  sessilifolia  of  Smith), 
which  in  its  turn  gives  place  to  the  pedunculate  leaved 
oak  (Quercus  pedunculata,  Eberhard),  almost  the  only 
one  now  existing  in  Denmark.  Finally  the  beech  appears 
(Fagus  sylvestris),  which  at  the  present  day  grows 
so  luxuriantly  in  this  part  of  Scandinavia,  that  these 
forests  are  reckoned  the  finest  in  the  world. 

AVhat  causes  brought  about  these  changes  in  the 
vegetation  ?  Judging  from  the  shells  of  the  peat  mosses, 
whose  species  are  identical  with  those  actually  existing 
in  that  region,  the  climate  does  not  appear  to  have  under- 
gone any  great  modifications  of  temperature.  Hence 
Steenstrup  has  been  led  to  believe  that  the  succession  of 
the  fir,  the  sessile-leaved  oak,  and  the  beech  is  simply  due 
to  a  gradual  desiccation  and  improvement  of  the  soil, 
the  fir  thriving  in  poor  and  marshy,  while  the  beech 
grows  only  in  dry  and  fertile  districts. 

The  series  of  layers  of  peat  which  we  have  just  de- 
scribed extends  to  a  depth  of  not  less  than  15  to  20  ft., 
and  this  argues  the  lapse  of  a  great  period  of  time  between 
their  origin  and  the  moment  at  which  their  formation 
ceased.  Ten  to  twelve  thousand  years  perhaps,  according 
to  Steenstrup,  went  to  the  accumulation  and  transformation 
of  these  remains  of  a  vegetation  which  has  partly  or  wholly 
disappeared  from  the  district. 

The  traces  of  fire  still  to  be  seen  upon  some  of  the  pine 
trimks,  and  the  presence  of  carved  flints  in  the  layer  of  peat 
formed  by  the  same  substance,  are  facts  brought  forward 
by  the  famous  professor  of  Copenhagen  in  support  of  his 
assertion,  that  man  existed  at  the  period  when  dense  pine 
forests  covered  Denmark  with  their  sombre  but  rich  vegeta- 
tion. Other  foots,  not  less  convincing,  corroborate  the 
deductions  of  the  learned  Danish  professor.  He  drew  ou% 
wnth  his  own  hands,  an  axe  which  had  b(^.en  violently  driven 
into  the  trunk  of  a  Scotch  fir  {riiius  sylvestris).     Now 


EEMAIXS   FOUND   IX   PEAT   MOSSES.  93 

this  tree  is  no  longer,  and  has  never  been  since  lustoric 
times,  indigenous  to  the  Danish  isles,  and  has  not  thriven 
when  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  re-introduce  it. 

It  has  also  been  proved  by  Steenstrup  in  a  most  in- 
genious and  conclusive  way  that  the  Bos  prionigenius  was 
contemporary  with  the  ancient  Danish  forests.  In  a  forest 
peat  moss  of  the  island  of  Moen,  he  discovered  an  entire 
skeleton  of  this  primitive  ox,  buried,  so  to  speak,  in  a 
shroud  of  the  needles  of  the  Scotch  tir.  Needles  of  the 
same  trees,  slightly  crushed,  and  in  small  fragments,  con- 
stituted a  blackish  mass,  placed  within  the  space  occupied 
by  the  skeleton,  which  mass  is  nothing  else  than  the 
perfectly  recognisable  excrements  of  the  ruminant,  which 
lived  and  browsed  in  the  Danish  forests  together  with  the 
blackcock,  which  has  long  since  disappeared  from  them. 

Two  bones  of  the  stag,  found  in  the  peat  mosses  of 
Jutland  and  Finland,  where  the  Scotch  fir  is  very  abun- 
dant, have  led  the  Danish  savant  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion with  regard  to  the  animals  to  which  these  bones 
belonged.  Steenstrup  has  further  concluded  from  the 
presence  of  flint  arrow  heads  in  these  bones,  and  arrow 
heads  which  had  during  the  life  of  the  animal  been  covered 
by  a  new  formation  of  bone,  that  man  had  pursued  and 
wounded  the  stags,  but  had  not  been  able  to  kill  them. 
He  was  therefore  contemporary  with  them,  and  conse- 
quently with  the  pine  forests  of  Denmark. 

The  stone  age  terminates  with  these  forests.  That 
of  bronze  saw  the  birth  of  the  first  oak  of  the  peat 
mosses  {Quercus  rohur  sessilifolia);  for  it  is  in  a  layer  of 
this  oak  that  the  magnificent  bronze  shields  which  now 
adorn  the  Museum  at  Copenhagen  were  found.  Lastly, 
the  historic,  or  iron  age,  belongs  essentially  to  the  epoch 
of  the  beech.  No  human  bones  have  as  yet  been  found 
in  the  Danish  peat  mosses.  '  Who  will  tell  us,'  exclaims 
Virchow,  '  how  long  this  calendar  of  trees,  if  I  may  be 
allowed  the  expression,  has  been  established ;  how 
many  centuries  have  elapsed  since  the  pine  forests  ceased 
to  spread  their  dark  verdure  over  the  surface  of  these 
marshes  ?     We  do  not  know,  but  we  know  that  with  the 


94  THE  A^'TIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

disappearance  of  the  pines  the  blackcock  also  was  forced 
to  quit  Denmark,  for  it  fed  upon  their  young  shoots  in 
the  spring.  If  doubt  were  still  entertained  as  to  the 
coincidence  of  the  age  of  the  pines  and  the  stone  age,  the 
discovery  of  a  flint  implement  in  the  peat  at  the  foot  of 
such  a  pine  would  be  a  conclusive  fact.'  ^ 

We  must  not  leave  the  peat  mosses  of  Denmark  with- 
out mentioning  the  numerous  necklace  beads  and  ear- 
rings of  amber  which  were  dug  out  of  those  of  Jutland. 
One  of  them  furnished,  it  is  said,  more  than  4,000  such 
beads,  enclosed  in  a  wooden  casket,  which  has  suggested 
the  idea  that  this  was  the  stock  in  trade  of  some  jeweller 
of  the  neolithic  age. 

The  Irish  bogs  have  furnished  palaeontology  with 
remains  of  the  Megaceros  hihernicus  in  a  perfect  state 
of  preservation,  and  several  museums,  especially  that  of 
Toulouse,  possess  a  complete  and  well  mounted  skeleton 
of  this  animal,  which  was  the  contemporary  of  the  mam- 
moth and  the  cave  bear. 

Among  the  French  peat  mosses  we  may  mention  in 
particular  those  situated  near  the  mouth  of  the  Somme, 
from  some  of  which  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  extracted 
rough-hewn  axes,  and  bones  of  the  Irish  elk,  and  from 
others  a  quantity  of  bone  and  flint  implements  (stag's 
horn  axes  with  wooden  handles,  flint  knives,  bone  fish- 
hooks, necklaces,  &c.),  which  undoubtedly  belong  to  the 
age  of  polished  stone.  The  proofs  of  the  great  antiquity 
of  man  furnished  by  the  peat  mosses  of  the  Somme 
valley  are  less  striking  than  those  of  the  Danish  bogs, 
but  they  have  their  value.  Boucher  de  Perthes  tells  us 
moreover  that  in  several  districts  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Abbeville,  where  an  immense  forest  formerly  stood, 
alders  and  oaks  twelve  feet  in  diameter  may  be  laid  bare 
by  digging  through  the  layer  of  peat  formed  subsequently 
above  them.  Some  of  these  are  still  standing,  others  are 
uprooted  and  lie  with  their  heads  towards  the  source  of 
the  river.     The  renowned  antiquary  surmises  that  these 

•  Vircbow,  Les  tmnnli  et  Ira  Jiabitaiions  lacustres  (^Rcvue  des  court 
scicntijiqiu's,  4*  annce,  18GG,  p.  7). 


PEAT   MOSSES  NEAR  TiUlIS.  05 

trees  were  overthrown  by  a  gust  of  wind  from  the  sea,  or 
by  a  tidal  wave  of  more  than  ordinary  force,  the  same 
perhaps  which  swept  away  the  isthmus  which  formerly 
united  Great  Britain  and  the  Continent.' 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  this  last  hypothesis,  it  is 
certainly  true  that  these  trees  have  fallen  on  the  very  spot 
where  they  grew,  and  that  since  they  fell,  great  beds  of 
peat  not  less  than  5  or  6  yards  in  depth,  have  been  formed 
above  them.  This  peat  is  covered  by  a  bed  of  waterworn  . 
pebbles  to  a  depth  of  12  or  16  inches.  Now  in  the  lowest 
layer,  half-polished  axes,  along  with  bones  of  oxen,  boars, 
roebucks,  and  stags,  have  been  found.  The  conclusion  is 
easy  to  draw. 

The  peat  mosses  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris  belong 
for  the  most  part  to  the  same  epoch.  Some  few  among 
them  seem,  however,  to  date  from  the  reindeer  age.  In 
the  latter,  which  are  formed  of  a  fibrous  peat,  MM. 
Koujou  and  Julien  found  hearthstones,  flint  imple- 
ments, and  even  pottery,  which  they  believe  to  be  of 
later  date  than  the  period  of  the  mammoth,  but  more 
ancient  than  the  age  of  polished  stone.  However,  we 
must  not  forget  that,  by  reason  of  their  greater  per- 
meability, especially  when  they  are  in  a  soft  condition, 
the  peat  mosses  may  have  received  and  covered  bones 
and  products  of  human  industry  which  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  regard  in  every  case  as  contemporaries,  merely 
from  the  fact  that  they  occupy  the  same  level.  JNIany 
mistakes  have  been  committed  in  this  respect,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  be  too  cautious  in  pronouncing  upon  the 
real  age  of  any  object  found  in  the  peat.  But  wdien 
Boucher  de  Perthes  and  Steenstrup  have  searched  these 
bogs  with  the  attention  and  care  for  which  they  are  so 
justly  celebrated,  the  results  have  great  value,  and  give 
the  most  convincing  evidence  in  ftivour  of  the  thesis 
which  we  are  endeavouring  to  establish  ;  namely,  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  human  race. 

*  Boucher  de  Perthes,  Dc  lltomme  Antediliicion,  p.  18. 


96 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUJVIAN   EACE. 


II.  THE  PEAT  MOSSES  OF  SWITZERLAND.  LEAP- 
MARKED  COAL  OF  MORCHWEILL,  OF  AVETZIKON, 
OF    UTZNACH,    AND    OF    DUENTEN. 

We  cannot  leave  unnoticed  the  peat  mosses  containing 
(eaf-impressed  coal  which  occur  in  various  parts  of  Switzer- 
land, notably  at  Wetzikon  in  the  east  of  Switzerland,  at 
Morchweill  near  Saint  Gall,  at  Utznach,  and  at  Diirnten 
in  Oberberg.  These  masses  of  carbon,  of  which  the 
mean  thickness  is  a  yard,  and  which  in  certain  districts 
attain  to  a  depth  of  4 J  yards,  are  traversed  by  veins  of 
clay,  and  they  rest  upon  a  bed  subsequently  formed  of 
dirty  white  or  yellowish  clay.  The  shells  of  freshwater 
molluscs  still  existing  in  the  country  have  been  found 
imbedded  in  this  layer  (Anodonta,  valvata  depressa, 
ohtusa,  &c.).  The  trunks  of  pines  are  also  abundant, 
overthrown  in  every  direction,  with  their  roots,  their 
bark,  and  fibrous  tissue  with  its  concentric  layers,  show- 
ing that  some  of  them  were  more  than  a  century  old,  in  a 
perfect  state  of  preservation.  These  trees  are  much 
flattened,  and  encased  in  a  blackish  or  brownish  substance 
produced  by  the  decaying  of  herbaceous  plants.  The  trees 
are  rarer  in  the  upper  layers,  which  are  principally  com- 
posed of  compressed  masses  of  carbon  interlaced  with  roots 
and  reeds. 

Twenty-four  species  of  plants,  of  which  eight  are  trees 
or  shrubs,  have  been  discovered  by  Heer  in  these  peat- 
bogs of  the  ancient  world.     We  give  the  list  of  them  : — 


Common  fir  (Pi/iKS  ahies). 

Scotch  fir  {Pinna  sylrestris). 

Mountain  pine  {Pimis  montana). 

Larch  (Pimis  larix^. 

Yew  {Taxiis  haccata). 

Birch  {B  etui  a  alba). 

Oak  (Queroiis  rohur). 

Maple  {Acer  pseudtyplaiai) ns). 

Hazel  {Corylus  avellana). 


Herbaceous  Plants 

Marsh  trefoil  {Menyanthes  trifo- 
liata). 

Common  reed  {Phraymitcs  com- 
vmnis). 

Raspberry  {Pnhvs  idatiis). 

Perforated  myrtle  (  Taccinium  vitii 
idcr-a). 

Lake  scirpns  {Scirjrus  lacvstris). 

Several  species  of  sjj/iaf/nnm. 

Mosses,  among  others  Hyjynnvi  di- 
luvii,  found  at  Thonon  by  M. 
Morlot  among  other  glacial  re- 
mains. 


ANIMAL   ROIAINS   IN   PEAT   MOSSES.  97 

Only  one  plant  of  this  epoch  seems  to  have  disappeared, 
namely,  a  species  of  nuphar',  of  which  jM.  Ganpary  has 
made  a  separate  genus,  under  the  name  of  holopleura. 

Animals  which  occur  in  the  Leaf-marked  Coal; 

Mamnialia  Insects 

Flf])has  antiquiis 


Jlhinoccros  etniscns '  Extinct 
Bos  jjriini(/e/iii 
l/rsus  sjfelu'iis 


Bos  jtrimhjeiiias       I  species 


Donnc'ui  discolor  1  Existing 
1).  scricca  J  species 


Molluscs 
Anodotita  \ 

VahaU  dcprcssa    L^i^^ing  species 
T  air  at  a  ohtiisa  °    ^ 

Iridium  ohliquum  ] 

At  Diirnten  and  at  Utznach  we  find  trunks  of  firs  and 
birches  a  foot  in  diameter,  witli  well  preserved  cones.  At 
Morchweill  an  acorn  still  retaining  its  cup  was  found,  and 
two  varieties  of  hazel  nut,  of  which  one  resembled  the 
modern  kind.  Lastly,  among  the  animals  whose  remains 
have  been  found  in  these  beds,  the  most  ancient  species  of 
the  diluvium  of  the  valleys  occur,  such  as  Elephas  an- 
tiquiis, Rkinoceros  etruscus,  Bos priinigenius,  and  Ursus 
spelccus,  contemporaries  of  the  man  of  the  caves.  We 
find  with  these  species,  long  since  extinct,  the  elytra  of 
insects  belonging  to  species  identical  with  those  which 
still  exist  on  the  shores  of  the  Swiss  lakes  {Donacia  dis- 
color and  D.  sericea). 

According  to  Oswald  Heer,  one  of  these  peat  mosses, 
that  of  Morchweill,  and  perhaps  that  of  Wetzikon,  is  placed 
between  two  beds  containing  striated  erratic  blocks,  which 
seems  to  show  that  they  were  formed  in  the  interval 
which  separates  the  two  glacial  periods  admitted  by  some 
geologists  and  rejected  by  others.  Whichever  opinion  is 
adopted,  it  is  at  any  rate  true  and  incontestible  that  these 
masses  of  leaf-impressed  carbon  are  covered  by  a  glacial 
deposit.  They  belong  therefore  to  an  extremely  remote 
epoch,  and  are  at  least  contemporary  with  the  ancient  Ehine 
alluvium,  above  which  the  lehvi  or  loess  was  deposited  at 
the  epoch  of  the  great    extension  of  the  glaciers    of  the 


98  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

Swiss  Alps  and  of  the  Yosges,  now  extinct.  Now,  it  is  in 
this  loess^  at  Eguisheim  in  Alsace,  and  at  Lahr  in  Baden, 
that  MM.  Faudel  and  Ami  Boue  found  human  bones  of 
which  we  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  speak,  a  conclusive 
proof  that  man  existed  during  the  glacial  period,  that  is, 
at  an  epoch  when  the  woolly  elephant,  the  rhinoceros,  and 
the  reindeer  existed  in  our  land. 

III.    THE    KITCHEN"  MIDDESTS    OB  SHELL  MOUNDS. 

The  remains  of  prehistoric  cookery,  which  are  found  in 
considerable  heaps  on  the  seashore,  are  known  as  kitchen 
middens  to  Scandinavian  archseologists.  These  heaps  are 
principally  composed  of  oyster  shells  {Ostrea  edulis),  of 
mussel  shells  {Mytilus  edulis),  of  limpets  {Gardium 
edule),  and  of  periwinkles  {Littorina  littorea).  Bones  ^  of 
mammalia,  of  birds  and  fishes,  are  found  together  with 
these  molluscs,  and  other  similar  refuse. 

The  principal  mammalia  are  the  stag  {Cervus  elfphas), 
the  wild  goat  (C  capi^eolus),  and  the  wild  boar  {Sus 
scrofa).  The  reindeer  is  rarely  found;  but  according 
to  Steenstrup,  it  does  occur  in  the  kitchen  middens, 
though  its  presence  was  long  disputed.  We  must  add  to 
these  about  fifteen  other  species  which  are  far  less  com- 
mon than  those  already  mentioned.  These  are  the  brown 
bear,  the  dog,  the  wolf,  the  fox,  the  cat,  the  lynx,  the 
marten,  the  otter,  the  seal,  the  walrus,  the  beaver,  the 
water  rat,  and  the  mouse.  Birds  are  represented  by  the 
wild  swan  {Cyrjnus  musicus),  the  blackcock  {Tetrao 
urogallus),  and'  the  great  penguin  {Alca  impennis),  now 
nearly  extinct.  The  fishes  which  occur  most  frequently  are 
the  herring  {Glupea  harengus),  the  cod  {Gadus  cellar ius), 
the  dab  (Pleuronectes  limanda),  and  the  eel  {Murcena 
anguilla).  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  none  of  these 
animals  belong  to  an  extinct  fjiuna. 

As  for  the  kitchen  debris  themselves,  they  form  heaps 
from  1  to  3  yards  in  height,  by  100  to  350  yards  long 
and  50  to  70  wide,  and  there  are  more  than  fifty  of  them, 
all  situated  a  short  distance  from  the  shores  of  the  Baltic, 
and  seldom  raised  more  than  three  yards  above  the  level 


KITCHEN  MIDDENS.  99 

of  the  sea.  Among  the  refuse  still  remain  the  coal  cinch-rs 
of  ancient  hearths,  rude  pottery,  numerous  flint  imple- 
ments, and  some  few  traces  of  stag's  horn.  But  there  is 
no  vestige  of  metals,  nor  of  cereals,  nor,  consequently,  of 
agriculture.  The  dog  was,  however,  already  domesticated, 
as  Professor  Steenstrup  has  proved  in  a  most  ingenious 
way.  He  had  observed  that  nearly  all  the  long  bones  of 
mammalia  and  birds  taken  from  the  refuse  heaps  were 
reduced  to  their  shaft  or  diaphysis.  The  heads  or  extre- 
mities had  disappeared  or  were  very  irregularly  broken. 
Moreover,  Steenstrup  remarked  that  the  long  bones  were 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five  times  more  numerous  than  the 
short  bones.  Struck  by  these  two  facts,  he  shut  up  several 
dogs  and  gave  them  bones  to  gnaw.  They  devoured  the 
short  bones,  gnawed  the  heads  of  the  long  bones,  and 
left  the  shafts  in  precisely  the  same  condition  as  those 
of  Copenhagen.  Hence  the  learned  professor  concluded 
that  the  Danish  aborigines  were  in  possession  of  a  do- 
mestic animal,  the  dog,  which  accompanied  them  every- 
where, shared  their  repasts,  and  served  itself  as  food  to 
these  still  barbarous  tribes. 

As  for  the  bones  of  the  other  mammalia,  they  bear 
evident  traces  of  having  been  purposely  fractured  by  man, 
who  broke  them  in  order  to  extract  the  marrow  which  they 
contained  for  food. 

As  zoological  museums  of  ancient  times,  and  as 
links  between  the  past  and  the  present,  the  kitchen 
middens  furnish  Danish  men  of  science  with  valuable  data 
respecting  the  fauna  of  the  coTmtry  which  their  labours 
have  rendered  famous.  Thus  at  the  time  when  the  use 
of  metals  was  still  unknown  to  their  ancestors  but  when 
they  were  already  in  possession  of  better  flint  tools 
than  those  found  in  the  diluvium  of  Abbe\dlle  and  in 
certain  caves  of  prehistoric  times,  the  mammoth,  the 
woolly  rhinoceros,  the  musk  ox,  &c.,  no  longer  existed 
in  Denmark.  The  oyster,  at  that  time  very  common  on 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  has  in  several  districts  completely 
disappeared,  and  in  the  places  where  it  is  still  found  it  is 
comparatively  small  and   stunted.     This  is  also  the  case 


100  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

with  the  other  edible  molluscs  before  mentioned.  This 
result  is  attributed  to  a  perceptible  decrease  of  saltness 
which  has  taken  place  in  the  waters  of  the  Baltic,  owing 


^IGS.  23,  24.    LaNCK   heads   from    the    KITCHE^    MIDDENS. 

vAfter  Lubbock.) 

to  the  great  quantity  of  fresh  water  poured  into  this  inland 
sea  by  the  rivers  of  the  present  day,  and  to  the  obstruction 
of  the  channel  of  communication  between  the  North  Sea 
and  the  Kattegat  caused  by  the  formation  of  the  land 
added  to  Jutland. 


KE^VAINS   FOUND   IN   KITCHEN   MIDDENS.  101 

The  presence  of  the  bones  of  the  blackcock  in  tlie^^e 
refuse  heaps  proves  that  tliis  bird,  now  extinct  in  Denmark, 
found  the  resinous  buds  which  foj-j^  ,its  fivouritQ  -food  in 
the  pine  forests  which  grew  neur  tlie  coast.  'The  great 
penguin  (A lea  impennis,  Llnmieus),.  row,^  According  to 
some  authorities,  confined  to  tjie/iao§t;iuticce^ib|ti. ^4:'^  of 
Iceland  and  Greenland,  or,  as  others  say,  entirely  extinct, 
was  then  common  upon  these  shores.  Its  oily  flesh  was 
not  despised  ;  its  fat  was  used  at  once  for  food,  fuel,  and 
light. ^  The  refuse  heaps  contain  no  remains  of  the  do- 
mestic fowl. 

As  a  sporting,  and  especially  as  a  fishing  people,  the 
ancient  Danes  have  left  in  their  kitchen  middens  a  quan- 
tity of  the  remains  of  eels,  cod,  flounders,  and  herrings ; 
all  deep  sea  fish,  in  search  of  which  they  were  obliged  to 
venture  fiir  out  to  sea  in  boats  formed  of  the  trunk  of  a 
tree  hollowed  by  flints  and  fire  :  a  terrible  struggle  for 
existence,  in  which  many  human  victims  fell,  but  in  which 
dang(irous  school  many  bold  spirits  were  formed. 

Human  remains  have  hitherto  been  sought  in  vain  in 
the  kitchen  middens ;  but  as  we  have  already  said,  a 
number  of  flint  implements  have  been  found  there,  some 
of  which  are  rudely  fashioned  and  resemble  those  of  the 
diluvium  (figs.  23  and  24)  ;  others,  less  common  than  the 
former,  are  of  better  workmanship  and  are  even  polished 
by  the  grindstone,  for  example  some  axes  of  a  peculiar 
character,  flat  on  one  side  and  more  or  less  convex  on  the 
other,  and  of  which  the  object  is  confessedly  unknown  to 
M.  Steenstrup  (figs.  25,  26,  and  27).  Certain  savage  tribes 
of  modern  thnes  make  similar  axes  (figs.  28,  29,  30)c 

According  to  calculations  of  which  we  do  not  guarantee 
the  accuracy,  the  kitchen  middens  of  Denmark  are  about 
7,000  years  old,  and  are  contemporary  with  the  earliest 
lake  dwellings.  Steenstrup  believes  them  to  be  of  the 
same  age  as  the  dolmens,  and  believes  that  the  people 

•  By  placins^  a  wick  of  any  kind,  moss  for  instance,  in  the  stomach 
of  a  penLiuin,  an  cc momical  lamp  wjis  obtained.  In  the  middle  aires 
the  fat  of  tl  is  bird  was  used  as  fuel  in  the  place  of  wood  on  the  cotists 
of  Nt'wrouudlaiid. 


102  THE  ANTIQUITY    OF   THE   HUMAN   EACE. 


Axe  of  tiik  kitciikv  iniiddkns  (after  Lubbock). 
Fia.  25.  Convex  face.  Fig.  26.  Side  view.  Fig.  27.  riat  face. 


MoDKUN  Nkw  Zkaland  axk  tn  the 


Bhitisit  Museum.      (After  Lubbock 


Fig.  28.  Convex  face. 


Prehistoric  Man.') 
Fkj.  29.  Side  view.  Fig.  30.  Flat  face. 


CARVED   BONIvS   AND   HORN.  103 

who  raised  those  great  stone  monuments,  and  tliose  who 
have  left  the  refuse  of  their  meals  in  the  kitchen  middens, 
are  one  and  the  same.  Worsae,  de  (^natrefages,  and  Desor 
do  not  share  this  opinion.  According  to  the  famous 
Danish  archjBologist,  the  refuse  heaps  represent  in  the 
north  the  beginning  of  the  age  of  splintered  stone,  while 
the  dolmens  belong  to  the  end  of  it.  M.  de  Quatrefages, 
again  grounding  his  belief  upon  the  fact  that  the  remains 
of  the  industry  of  the  people  who  formed  the  shell  mounds 
are  never  found  with  the  remains  of  Elephcis  priTiiigenius, 
nor  even  with  those  of  the  reindeer  (although,  as  we  have 
seen,  St^enstrup  affirms  that  the  latter  do  occur  in  the 
refuse  heaps),  concludes  that  the  construction  of  the 
kitchen  middens  is  of  a  much  later  date  than  the  race  of 
Aurignac  and  of  Moulin- Quignon;  he  adds  that,  'between 
the  stone  age  of  our  earliest  ancestors  and  that  of  the 
primitive  Danes  a  whole  geological  period  intervenes.' 
M.  Desor,  for  his  part  also,  denies  the  identity  of  the 
people  of  the  kitchen  middens  with  that  of  the  dolmens, 
for,  independently  of  the  numerous  domestic  animals  to  be 
met  with  in  the  latter,  objects  in  bronze  and  even  in  iron 
occur  also,  which  are  never  found  in  the  kitchen  middens. 
It  is  therefore  more  than  doubtful  whether  these  two 
kinds  of  monuments  date  from  the  same  epoch ;  we  may" 
even  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  problem  is  now  solved ; 
the  dolmens,  and  especially  those  in  which  iron  and  bronze 
occur,  being  proved  to  be  far  more  recent  than  the  kitchen 
middens  of  Denmark. 

Blackish  ashes  have  been  found  in  the  latter,  which 
chemical  analysis  has  shown  to  contain  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  manganese  ;  these  ashes  were  produced  by  the 
combustion  of  a  species  of  sea-weed  (Zostera  marmot 
sprinkled  with  sea-water.  This  double  process  resulted 
in  a  sort  of  saline  efflorescence  (the  sal  nigrwni  of  Pliny). 

Bones  and  antlers  of  the  stag  carved  into  fish-hooks, 
chisels,  axe  blades,  &c.,  have  been  found  among  the  debris. 
A  sort  of  bone  c<jmb  was  discovered  at  jNIeilgaard,  destined 
probably  to  split  the  tendons  then  used  as  thread  and 
cordage.     The  remains  of  Danish  cooking  seem  to  show 


104  THE  AN'TIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

that  the  tribes  who  formed  one  layer  after  another  in  such 
a  way  that  they  bear  a  certain  resemblance  to  geological 
strata,  Hved  under  the  shelter  of  tents,  and  practised 
hunting  and  fishing,  eating  their  spoils  on  the  spot. 

Kefuse  heaps  of  still  earlier  date  than  those  of  Den- 
mark have  been  observed  in  Suabia  at  Schiissenried. 
Others  occur  in  certain  caves  of  France,  Belgium,  in  the 
Orkney  Isles,  in  Scotland,  England,  &c.  We  may  mention 
among  others  the  cave  at  Brixham,  where,  associated  with 
fragments  of  rude  pottery  and  bones  of  extinct  species, 
heaps  of  .  oyster  shells  and  other  saltwater  molluscs  occur, 
as  well  as  fishbones  of  the  genus  scarus. 

Cook  observed  debris  of  a  similar  character  at  Cape 
Leveque,  in  Australia.  Lastly,  Darwin  and  Lyell  men- 
tion others  in  Guinea,  and  on  the  coasts  of  New  Finland. 
They  have  even  been  found  in  America ;  in  the  States  of 
Maine,  Florida,  Massachusetts,  &c.  Those  of  America  are 
of  two  kinds,  some  containing  marine  shells  in  abundance, 
the  others,  situated  in  the  interior  of  the  continent,  espe- 
cially on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  John 
rivers,  contain  only  freshwater  molluscs  {unio,  paludina, 
ainjjullaria).  In  all  of  them  occur  axes,  arrow  heads  and 
flint  knives  simply  splintered,  rude  pottery,  but  never 
metal.  The  fauna  excavated  from  them  differs  in  no 
respect  from  that  of  the  present  day.  Everything  in 
these  refuse  heaps  indicates  a  civilisation  similar  to  that 
of  the  people  who  formed  the  Danish  shell  mounds,  but 
not  perhaps  of  such  remote  antiquity. 


105 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE    LAKE     DWELLINGS    AND    THE    NURAGHL 

I.    THE   LAKE   DWELLINGS   OF   SWITZERLAND, 

It  was  during  the  winter  of  1853-54,  at  an  epoch  when 
the  waters  of  the  lake  of  Zurich  had  fallen  to  the  lowest 
level  they  are  ever  known  to  have  attained,  that  Keller 
observed  near  Obermeilen  the  first  piles,  which  led  to  so 
many  important  discoveries  and  such  remarkable  strides 
in  the  science  of  archaeology. 

Anyone  may  have  observed  in  the  Paris  Exhibition  of 
1867,  in  the  galleries  devoted  to  Natural  Science,  those 
curious  specimens  which  displayed  before  our  eyes  the 
dawning  arts,  industry,  agricultural  labours,  and  domestic 
life  of  the  first  inhabitants  of  Helvetia. 

If  we  read  the  successive  reports  communicated  by 
Keller  to  the  Antiquarian  Society  of  Zurich;  Troyon's 
book  on  the  lake  dwellings,  which  Carl  Vogt  styles  some- 
what severely  an  historical  romcmce,  a  pious  fancy;  lastly, 
the  work  on  the  lake  dwellings  of  Neufchatel,  published  by 
M.  Desor,  in  1865  ;  if  we  add  to  these  works  the  general 
views  of  ]Morlot  on  archceology,  several  critical  articles  of 
Pictet  on  fossil  man,  independently  of  what  he  has  said 
in  his  great  treatise  on  palaeontology ;  the  '  Crania  Helve- 
tica '  of  His,  the  studies  of  Riitimeyer  on  the  fossil  faima 
of  Switzerland,  the  '  Crania  Germanise  Meridionalis  Ori- 
entalis  '  of  Ecker,  the  '  Vorlesungen  iiber  den  Menschen, 
seine  Stellung  in  der  Schopfung  und  in  der  Geschichte 
der  Erde,'  by  Carl  Vogt,  the  '  Pfahlbaualterthiimer  von 
Moosseedorf,'  by  Jahn  and  Uhlmann,  &c.,  we  shall  be 
convinced  that  love  of  science,  allied  to  the  noblest 
patriotism,   could  alone  have  brought  to  light   so  many 


106 


THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 


interestinor  discoveries  in  so  short  a  time  and  in  so  limited 
a  space  of  ground.  The  following  details  are  taken  from 
these  original  sources  and  from  personal  recollection. 

It  has  been  justly  remarked  that  the  lake  dwellings  of 
Switzerland  are  at  the  same  time  monuments  of  prehistoric 
architecture,  a  zoological  museum,  and  a  gallery  of  anthro- 
pology. Framework  and  piles,  remains  of  wild  and  domes- 
tic animals,  various  forms  of  human  skulls,  implements  of 


Fig.  31.  Ancient  Swiss   lake  dwellings,  in  part   restored  by  com- 
parison AVITH  THE   LAKE  HUTS  OF  MODERN   SAVAGES   IN   XeW   GuINEA. 


every  description  in  bone,  flint,  bronze,  and  iron,  pottery 
of  more  or  less  artistic  workmanship,  objects  of  art  and 
ornament,  woven  stuffs,  grinding  stones,  millstones  for 
crushing,  grains,  bread,  fruits,  ashes,  coal,  &c.,  all  these 
are  found  therein,  or  at  least  were  found  there  in  a  state 
of  confusion,  which  the  science  of  antiquaries  and  pal?eonto- 
logists  has  reduced  to  the  most  perfect  order  (fig.  31). 

Long  known  to  the  fishermen,  who  often  entangled 
their  nets  in  them,  the  piles  of  the  Swiss  lakes  only  at- 


CONSTRUCTION   OF   LAKE  DWELLINGS.  107 

tracted  the  attention  of  scientific  men  about  1853.  Keller 
was  one  of  tlie  first  to  understand  their  importance,  and 
the  reports  which  from  that  time  (1854)  he  continually 
laid  before  the  Antiquarian  Society  of  Zurich  bear  witness 
to  the  zeal,  conscientiousness,  and  power  of  observation 
which  he  has  displayed  in  the  production  of  a  work  worthy 
of  his  country  and  of  himself. 

By  the  help  of  the  ruins  which  remain  beneath  the 
waters,  let  us  endeavour  to  reconstruct  in  imagination 
these  ancient  dwellings,  which  a  well-known  savant,  for 
once  mistaken,  asserted  to  have  been  built  and  inhabited 
by  beavers.  Imagine  a  number  of  piles,'  fifteen  to  thirty 
feet  long,  with  a  diameter  of  three  to  nine  inches,  standing 
about  foiu-  to  six  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water  when 
it  is  still.  The  distance  betw^een  these  piles  varies ;  some 
of  them  are  arranged  at  right  angles  to  the  shore,  others 
are  parallel  to  it,  and  form  altogether  a  rectangle  or  a 
circle. 

Usually  fixed  in  the  mud  of  the  lake  above  the  surface 
of  which  they  are  raised,  they  are  sometimes  supported 
(when  the  nature  of  the  soil  does  not  allow  them  to  be 
imbedded  in  it)  by  heaps  of  stones,  or  Steinbergen,  arranged 
round  their  base.  Suppose  these  piles  to  be  joined  by 
transverse  beams,  held  in  their  places  by  wooden  pins. 
It  then  only  remains  to  establish  a  kind  of  platform  des- 
tined to  support  the  hut  and  constructed  of  thick  planks 
or  of  split  trunks  of  trees  roughly  squared,  and  bound 
together  by  strong  cords,  wooden  pins,  or  even  by  cross 
pieces  of  wood  and  by  dovetailing.  Finally,  suppose  that 
oval,  circular,  or  rectangular  huts  are  built  upon  this  plat- 
form, ten,  fifteen,  or  even  twenty-seven  feet  in  diameter, 
of  which  the  walls  are  formed  of  perpendicular  posts, 
bound  together  by  wattled  branches  lined  with  a  cement 
of  clay.  Each  hut  is  covered  by  a  roof  of  bark,  thatch, 
cane,  reed,  fern,  or  moss  ;  a  door  is  left  for  the  entrance, 
and  a  trapdoor  within  communicates  with  the  lake.  The 
trunk  of  a  tree  serves  for  seat  and  table,  a  heap  of  moss 

>  More  than  40,000  were  counted  at  Wangen,  and  about  100,000  at 
Robenhuusen. 


108  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   HUMAN   EACE. 

for  a  bed.  Lastly,  suppose  each  hut  surrounded  by  a  ring 
of  piles,  of  which  the  upper  end  touches  the  surface  of 
the  water,  to  prevent  the  approach  of  hostile  canoes,  and 
united  to  the  shore  by  a  drawbridge,  and  a  sufficiently 
exact  idea  will  be  obtained  of  the  lake  dwellings  which  in 
prehistoric  times  existed  in  Switzerland  and  elsewhere. 
The  number  of  these  habitations  at  present  known  in  this 
country  exceeds  200.  The  lake  of  Neufchatel  alone  has 
furnished  forty.  Each  village  was  composed  on  the  aver- 
age of  about  300  huts.^ 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  decide  the  precise  motive  for  the 
construction  of  these  lake  dwellings.  It  is  scarcely  likely, 
as  some  authors  have  maintained,  that  they  were  simply 
huts,  used  temporarily  for  fishing,  or  magazines  for  food 
and  other  stores,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  iiii- 
niense  labour  it  must  have  cost  to  build  them.  Moreover, 
it  is  impossible  by  this  h3rpothesis  to  account  for  the 
number  and  diversity  of  the  objects  found  among  the  piles 
if  we  deny  that  these  places  were  lake  villages  or  cities, 
inhabited  by  a  population  already  so  dense  that  certain 
districts  contained  from  twelve  to  fourteen  hundred  souls. 

Again  it  has  been  said,  but  there  are  absolutely  no 
grounds  for  the  assertion,  that  these  houses  on  piles  were 
places  of  temporary  meeting,  and  even  temples  consecrated 
to  the  worship  of  the  waters. 

Everything  seems  to  show  that  the  oldest  lake  dwellings 

of  Switzerland  do  not  go  back  beyond  the  neolithic  age, 

and  that  they  ceased  to  exist  quite  at  the  beginning  of  the 

iron  age,  that  is,  shortly  after  the  Koman  invasion.     The 

huts     of   Moosseedorf,    \¥angen,    Eobenhausen,    Meilen, 

Concise,  Saint  Aubain,  &c.,  belong  to  the  age  of  polished 

stone.     None  of  the  lake  cities  of  the  bronze  age  which 

have  been  hitherto  discovered  are  situated  in  the  east  of 

Switzerland.     To  this  age  belong  those  of  Geneva,  Bienne, 

Sempach,  Morat,  Cortaillod,  Auvernier,  Neufchatel.    Those 

At  Wangen,  near  Lucerne,  and  in  the  lakes  of  Zurich,  of  Pfeffikon, 
and  of  Constance,  iioors  or  platforms  placed  one  above  the  other  were 
remarked,  bearing  circular  huts  with  a  conical  loof  thatched  with  straw 
and  bark.  These  platforms,  though  rcuch  damaged,  still  measured 
forty- two  feet  in  length  by  iifty  in  width. 


DATE  OF   LAKE   DWELLINGS.  lO'J 

of  Bionne  and  Neufchatel  witnessed  the  earliest  days  of 
the  iron  a^e  and  come  very  near  to  historic  times.  At 
la  Tene  a  Koman  coin  bearing  the  effigy  of  Clandins  was 
discovered,  which  would  seem  to  prove  that  this  settle- 
ment existed  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  first  century  of 
our  era.  JNIoreover,  a  vase  bearing  a  Latin  inscription  was 
discovered  in  the  lake  of  Bourget,  and  some  Eoman  swords 
at  Bienne. 

Some  of  these  settlements  contain  remains  belonging 
to  two  or  three  different  ages.  For  instance  the  ages  of 
stone  and  bronze  are  represented  at  Estavayer,  and  tho^e 
of  stone,  bronze,  and  iron  at  Neufchatel  and  Nidau. 

In  the  east  of  Switzerland  the  lake  cities  disappear 
with  the  age  of  stone ;  in  the  west  they  last  until  the 
iron  age.  Some  few  even  seem  to  have  lasted  to  the 
beginnings  of  history,  but  to  fix  the  precise  date  of 
their  first  appearance  seems  to  be  too  bold  an  attempt. 
Certain  authors,  however,  assign  an  age  of  5,000,  and  even 
of  7,000  years  to  the  oldest  lake  cities,  whose  construction 
would  thus  be  anterior  to  that  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon. 
Troyon  makes  them  date  from  2,000  years  before  our  era, 
that  is,  eight  to  ten  centuries  before  the  Trojan  war,  and 
M.  Grervais  himself  adopts  this  calculation,  which  probably 
falls  considerably  short  of  the  truth.  Finally  M.  Eiitimeyer 
believes  that  the  lake  cities  form  in  Switzerland  the  earliest 
stage  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  a  conclusion  which 
is  inadmissible  since  the  discovery  at  Verrier,^  at  the  foot 
of  Mont  Saleve,  of  human  constructions  of  the  reindeer 
age,^  which  M.  Ed.  Lartet,  an  authority  on  such  questions, 

'  The  liill  of  Verrier,  at  the  foot  of  Mont  Sal6ve,  near  Geneva, 
was 'formed  by  a  landslip  of  the  almost  vertical  strata  of  this  mountain 
after  the  glacial  epoch.  The  cavities  left  between  the  great  blocks  of 
which  it  is  formed  afterwards  served  as  shelter  to  man.  But  the 
presence  of  carved  reindeer  bones  in  this  place,  and  especially  those  of 
Thayngen,  and  the  total  absence,  or  at  least  the  extreme  rarity  of 
such  remains  in  the  lake  cities,  incontestably  prove  that  the  arrival 
of  man  in  Switzerland  is  anterior  to  the  lake  dwellings. 

2  Reindeer  bones,  cjirved  or  otherwise,  had,  before  these  discoveries, 
already  been  observed  in  different  parts  of  Switzerland,  notably  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Geneva,  on  the  lake  at  Meilen,  and  at  Windiscli  on 
the  banks  of  the  Reuss.     All  these  bones  were  found  in  the  alluvium  of 


no  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

believes,  judging  from  the  workmanship,  to  be  contem- 
porary with  several  settlements  of  Perigord  of  the  so- 
called  second  epoch  (reindeer  age).  The  recent  discovery 
of  the  cave  of  Thayngen,  near  Schaff hausen,  confirms  the 
theory  of  the  learned  palaeontologist.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  lake  dwellings  were  therefore  preceded  in  Switzerland 
by  the  dwellers  in  the  caves,  who  date  from  the  archseo- 
lithic  epoch,  and  perhaps  even  they  are  not  the  earliest 
representatives  of  the  human  race  in  that  country. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  the  lake  cities  were  more 
than  once,  by  accident  or  design,  destroyed  by  fire.  The 
ruins  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  lakes  are  a  clear  proof  of 
this  fact.  A  terrible  conflagration  seems  to  have  marked 
the  limit  of  each  historical  period. 

The  confused  and  vague  ideas  which  are  all  that  we 
hitherto  possess,  will  not  allow  us  to  give  a  definite  reply 
to  the  question  as  to  who  these  strange  people  were  that 
built  and  inhabited  these  lake  cities.  Here,  as  in  many 
other  cases,  there  is  an  immense  field  for  conjecture, 
and  adventurous  minds  may  give  the  rein  to  their  im- 
agination. If  we  consult  the  archaeologists  of  the  north — 
M.  Worsae,  for  instance — they  tell  us  that  the  first  inhabi- 
tants of  the  lake  cities  were  aborigines  of  the  west  and 
north  of  Europe,  of  Keltic  origin.  Their  race  endured  as 
long  as  the  lake  dwellings,  and  perfected  itself  in  arts  and 
manufactures  on  the  spot  they  inhabited.  Keller,  Dessor, 
and  Virchow  share  this  opinion.  The  almost  complete 
identity  of  plan  in  the  lake  buildings  of  different  epochs ; 
the  great  resemblance  of  certain  objects  in  common  use, 
made  of  stone,  bronze,  iron,  and  clay  ;  the  similarity  of  the 
way  in  which  fruits  and  other  provisions  of  various  kinds 
were  preserved  ;  all  this  seems  to  refute  the  opinion  held 
by  M.  Troyon  and  others,  that  peoples  of  different  races 
and  degrees  of  civilisation  successively  invaded  and  occu- 
pied the  lake  dwellings,  the  conqueror  imposing  his 
customs,  industry,  and  way  of  life  upon  the  conquered. 

the  terraces  which  succeeded  the  glacial  epoch,  and  at  a  height  of  con- 
siderably more  than  twouty-five  or  thirty  yards  above  the  actual  level 
of  the  rivers  and  lakes  of  Switzerland. 


IMrLEMEXTS   IN   SWISS  LAKES. 


Ill 


From  the  fact  that  certain 
practised  in  »S\vitzerland  during 
the  epoch  of  polished  stone 
somewhat  resembled  those 
which  the  ancient  Egyptians 
had  adopted  about  titty  cen- 
turies before  the  Etruscan  pe- 
riod, Carl  Vogt  concludes  that 
the  builders  of  the  lake  cities 
came  from  the  banks  of  the 
Nile  long  before  the  first  Aryan 
migrations,  and  before  the  use 
of  metals  was  known  in  Egypt. 
Unfortunately  the  data  upon 
which  so  original  an  opinion  is 
based  do  not  appc^ar  to  us  suf- 
ficient to  place  it  beyond  dis- 
pute. 

II.  IMPLEMENTS  OF  STONE 
AGE  FOUND  IN  THE  S^SATISS 
LAKES. 

The  objects  found  in  the 
Swiss  lakes,  under  the  peat, 
and  among  the  ruins  of  the 
lake  dwelhngs  of  the  stone  age, 
are,  as  was  to  be  expected,  very 
similar  to  those  found  in  the 
caves  ofthe  neolithic  age.  Buta 
harvest  richer  in  many  respects 
is  gathered  from  the  lake  dwell- 
ings, since,  independently  of 
the  weapons  and  utensils  of 
every  kind  in  stone,  bone,  and 
clay,  the  remains  of  a  fauna  and 
flora  almost  completely  similar 
to  our  modem  fauna  and  flora 
have  been  discovered  in  them. 

The   stone  axes,    hammers. 


agricultural 


processes 


Fig.  32.  Axe,  with  itorn  sockkt 

AND   WOODKX    IIANDI-K,     KorND 

AT  RoBEXHAusEN,    (After  Lub- 
Sock.) 

and   chisels   are    always 


112  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

highly  polished,  and  usually  fixed  in  a  handle  carved  from 
the  antler  of  a  stag  (fig.  32).  Stones  for  polishing  pur- 
poses, grindstones,  stones  for  crushing  corn,  and  stone 
hearths,  are  not  rare  in  the  lake  cities.  Paring  knives, 
or  polishers,  of  which  some  are  a  species  of  jade  highly 
polished,  are  usually  fixed  in  a  stag's-horn  handle.  Lance 
and  arrow  heads  and  knives  of  flint  are  not  uncommon, 
and,  as  usual,  represent  the  types  universally  adopted. 
The  same  holds  good  of  the  weapons.     The  flint  saw  (fig. 

33),  usually  only  two  or  three 
inches  long,  is  fixed  in  the 
groove  of  a  wooden  blade  and 
is  held  firmly  in  its  place  by 
a  dark-coloured  cement  of 
which  the  composition  is  un- 
FiG.  33.  Flint  SAW.    (After  Lubbock,  ^nown.      Utensils    and   tools 

'Prehistoric  Man.)  of  bone  and  horn  have  also 

been  found,  such  as  knives, 
scissors,  axes,  hammers,  arrows,  harpoons,  bodkins,  fish- 
hooks, straight  and  curved  needles,  pierced  by  one  or  two 
holes,  and  sometimes  even  grooved  to  prevent  the  thread 
from  interfering  with  the  free  play  of  the  implement. 
Some  needles  are  sharpened  at  both  ends,  and  the  eye  is 
then  in  the  middle.  The  bone  hairpins  present  the  closest 
resemblance  to  the  metal  ones  of  modern  days.  The  innate 
taste  for  ornament  shows  itself  in  the  rings  and  bracelets  of 
bone  or  stone,  in  the  necklace  beads  made  of  Baltic  amber, 
of  stags'  antlers  sawn  into  fragments  more  or  less  small, 
and  even  of  nuts  pierced  through  and  through.  Horn 
drinking  cups  of  varied  forms,  and  naturally  of  small 
size,  have  been  found  at  Concise  and  Moosseedorf.  One 
of  these,  hollowed  from  a  stag's  antler,  was  furnished 
with  a  wooden  bottom  attached  by  means  of  three  pins, 
of  which  the  holes  are  to  be  seen  near  the  lower  edge. 

A  quantity  of  fragments  of  rude  pottery,  like  that  of 
the  caves  of  the  neolithic  age,  sometimes  blackened  by 
plumbago,  not  thrown  qn  the  wheel,  and  but  very  slightly 
ornamented,  have  been  taken  from  a  number  of  these 
lake  settlements  (fig.  34).  Some  vases  are  intact,  but 
rather  small,  with  flat  and  rounded  bottoms,  while  in  the 


FRAGMENTS   OF  TOTTERY. 


113 


siicceedinc^  age  vases  of  a  similar  nature  ended  in  a  conical 
point  and  were  supported   on    stands  or  rings    of    clay. 


Fig.  3-i.  Fragmknt  of  tottkry  foi^xd  tn  the  lake  of  Zfricii. 
(After  Lubbock.) 

Several  of  those  found  at  Concise  bear  two  lumps  or 
knobs  pierced  with  a  hole  to  allow  of  their  being  sus- 
pended by  a  cord. 


Fig.  35.  Piece  of  woven  stuff  Ff>ixi>  at  Robexiiausex. 
(After  Lubbock.) 

The  weaver's  shuttle,  the  spindle,  the  weights  destined 
to  aid  in  the  rotatory  movement  of  the  spinning  wheel, 
the  loom  itself,  with  its   spools   for  stretching  the  thread. 


114  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

already  existed.  Cords  made  from  the  bark  fibre  of  cer- 
tain trees,  thread  miade  frora  flax  (not  hemp),  woven  and 
plaited  stuffs,  had  been  discovered  at  the  bottom  of  the 
lakes  of  Constance  and  Pfeffikon,  at  Wangen  and  Eoben- 
hausen  (fig.  35).  Twigs  of  willow,  interlaced  with  straw, 
were  even  found  at  Wangen,  probably  the  remains  of  a 
basket  even  more  ancient  than  that  used  by  queen  Aah- 
Hotep  (see  p.  33). 

The  preserving  property  of  peat  explains,  in  part  ai 
least,  the  preservation  for  such  a  length  of  time  of  all 
these  tissues,  as  well  as  that  of  thi  half-carbonised  cereals, 
seeds,  and  fruits,  of  which  Heer  discovered  the  existence 
in  the  lakes  of  Constance  and  Pfeffikon  (see  p.  120). 

Lastly,  in  one  of  the  oldest  settlements  of  the  lake 
of  Bienne,  that  of  Locras  (age  of  polished  stone),  M.  G-rass 
discovered  wooden  bowls  and  platters,  and  even  little 
birch-bark  boxes,  furnished  with  lids  and  made  to  open 
and  shut  at  will  by  means  of  a  string  hinge.  Ob- 
jects made  of  stag's  horn  or  bone  are  not  uncommon 
at  Locras.  Several  of  great  historic  interest  have  been 
discovered  in  that  place :  among  others  a  comb  pierced 
with  a  hole  by  which  it  might  be  suspended,  maces,  or 
battle  axes,  which  still  retain  a  part  of  their  handle,  and 
a  sort  of  wand  of  office.  The  bone  objects  include  fish- 
hooks, daggers,  and  a  sort  of  comb  for  carding  flax,  formed 
of  three  ribs  split  lengthways,  pointed  at  one  end,  and 
joined  together  by  fine  string.  Lastly,  a  flat  rectangular 
piece  of  bone  pierced  with  a  hole  at  one  end,  was  probably 
used  for  making  nets.  Few  tissues  occur  at  Locras  ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  several  balls  of  thread,  string,  and 
cord  have  been  found  there. 

At  Grerafin  (lake  of  Bienne,  stone  age),  a  spoon  was 
foimd  made  of  yew  wood  beautifully  wrought,  and  at 
Weyeregg,  Austria  (age  of  polished  stone),  a  bone  fork. 
The  lake  dwellings  of  the  stone  age  have  also  furnished 
a  great  number  of  bones  of  animals,  of  which  a  list 
will  be  found  on  p.  119.  There  are  no  entire  skele- 
tons, and  the  bones  are  generally  split  lengthways, 
in  order  to  extract  the  marrow,  a  very  ancient  and  per- 


LAKE   CITIES   IN   OTHER   LANDS.  115 

sistent  custom,  since  it  dates  from  the  earliest  stone 
age,  from  the  epoch  even  of  the  cave  bear  and  mam- 
moth, and  it  is  still  practised  by  the  Lapps  and  other 
peoples  of  the  Finn  race  who  inhabit  the  north  of  Europe. 
To  their  praise  be  it  spoken,  no  trace  of  cannibalism  has 
been  observed  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Swiss  lake 
dwellings. 

Switzerland  is  not  the  only  country  in  which  lake  cities 
occur.  Italy,  Austria,  Hungary,  Pomerania,  France,  and 
Savoy  possess  huts  built  on  piles  after  the  manner  of  those 
of  Switzerland,  but  they  are  generally  smaller,  and  nearly 
all  belong  to  the  age  of  polished  stone.  Occasionally,  how- 
ever, metal  objects  occur  in  them,  probably  of  foreign 
origin,  which  were  imbedded  in  the  mud  of  the  lake  at 
a  date  subsequent  to  the  construction  of  the  huts.  Paolo 
Lioy  has  described  those  of  Lake  Fimon  (Italy),  and  he 
maintains  that  they  belong  to  the  reindeer  age.^  Those 
of  Savoy  are  far  less  ancient,  since  some  of  them,  that  of 
Gresine  for  instance  on  the  lake  of  Bourget,  are,  accord- 
ing to  M.  Kabut,  not  more  than  3,000  years  old.  Those 
of  Lake  Paladru  in  Isere  are  yet  more  recent ;  for  JNI. 
Chantry,  who  explored  them  with  so  much  care,  found  in 
them  a  quantity  of  iron  objects  and  even  a  Carlo vingian 
coin.  However,  history  makes  no  mention  of  this  lake 
city.  The  local  tradition  that  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  city 
which  had  been  destroyed  by  divine  vengeance  existed  at 
the  bottom  of  the  lake,  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  ruins 
of  a  lake  village  occupying  in  point  of  fact  the  spot 
indicated. 

A  recent  author  ^  has  even  asserted  that  Toulouse  was 
once  a  lake  city ;  but  M.  de  Mortillet  has  refuted  this 
opinion  in  a  manner  which  appears  to  us  conclusive.  It 
is  worthy  of  remark,  however,  that  according  to  Strabo, 
Cicero,  and  Justinian,  a  sacred  lake  existed  formerly  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Toulouse  where  the  neighbouring  tribes 
offered  gold  and  silver  to  their  gods. 

'  See  Paolo  Lioy,  Le  dbitazioni  laoustre  dclla  eta  della  pictra  ncl 
Vu'entino.     Vicenza,  I860. 

2  See  Revue  archcologique  du  Midi  de  la  France,  1866-1867,  pp.  170 
and  rj6. 


116  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   HHxMAN  EACE. 

III.  THE  INHABITANTS  OF  THE  LAKE  D^WELLINGS. 
THE  S^WISS  EPOCH  OP  THE  LAKE  D"WELLI3SrGS. 
MANNERS  AND   CUSTOMS  OF  THEIR  INHABITANTS. 

At  the  epoch  of  the  lake  cities,  immense  forests,  already 
peopled  by  our  modern  fauna,  covered  the  slopes  of  the 
Swiss  mountains,  and  descended  sometimes  to  the  very 
shores  of  the  lakes.  Here  the  urus,  the  aurochs,  the  red 
deer,  the  roebuck,  the  wild  goat,  the  wild  boar,  the  wolf, 
the  fox,  roamed  at  liberty.  The  otter  disported  himself 
in  the  clear  waters  the  beaver  constructed  its  dams,  the 
brown  bear  crouched  in  his  cave,  while  the  Idramer  geyer 
(lamb-slayer  vulture),  watching  his  prey,  hovered  in  the  air. 
The  dog,  already  the  companion  and  help-mate  of  man, 
hunted  with  him  the  denizens  of  the  forests  whose  flesh 
served  as  food  for  both  of  them.  Besides  the  dog,  the 
dwellers  on  the  lake  had  brought  under  their  sway  the 
greater  number  of  the  animals  which  are  now  domesti- 
cated :  the  ox,  the  goat,  the  sheep,  the  pig,  and  perhaps 
even  the  horse — an  immense  step  in  advance,  which  even 
rendered  agricultural  labour  possible.  In  effect  they  cul- 
tivated most  of  our  cereals.  The  spoils  of  hunting,  and 
of  fishing  with  net  and  line,  milk,  and  fruits  of  all  kinds, 
also  served  for  nourishment. 

To  judge  from  certain  of  their  w^orks  of  art  and  orna- 
ments (coral  necklaces,  amber  beads,  jade,  &c.),  it  would 
appear  that  they  carried  on  a  commerce  by  barter  with 
the  peoples  of  the  Mediterranean,  of  the  Baltic,  of  the 
Scilly  Isles,  perhaps  even  of  the  East.  But  these  asser- 
tions are  possibly  rash,  and  are  still  the  subject  of  serious 
doubts.  They  were  clothed  in  skins,  sewn  or  unsewn, 
and  in  hempen  or  linen  stuffs  skilfully  woven.  Woollen 
stuffs  were  unknow^n  to  them  ;  at  least  no  trace  of  them 
has  hitherto  been  found.  The  arts  of  making  baskets,^ 
ropes,  and  lace,  had  already  reached  a  comparatively 
advanced  stage  of  development.  Their  pottery,  not  made 
upon  the  wheel,  is  not  wanting  in  a  certain  elegance. 
But  the  arts  of  design  were  in  an  extremely  backward 

'  Baskets  closely  resembling  those  taken  from  Egyptian  tombs  have 
been  found  in  Switzerland. 


INHABITANTS   OF  LAKE   CITIES.  117 

coudition,  compared  to  their  development  in  the  reindeer 
age  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  caves  of  Perigord  and 
Languedoc.  Their  architectnre  ^vas  of  the  simplest  de- 
scription ;  bnt  their  carpenters  had  invented  ingenious 
methods  of  joining,  mortising,  dovetailing,  &c.,  of  remark- 
able size  and  solidity,  which  are  in  no  respect  inferior  to 
several  of  those  adopted  in  our  own  day.  Finally,  with 
the  aid  of  tire  and  of  flint  tools,  the  lake  dwellers  of  the 
age  of  stone  constructed  boats  of  astonishing  size  and 
solidity. 

In  our  present  social  conditions  it  is  difficult  for  us  to 
understand  the  motives  which  led  the  early  inhabitants  of 
Switzerland  to  expend  so  much  labour  in  constructing 
dwellings  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  But  if  we  con- 
sider that  at  that  remote  epoch  Switzerland  was  almost 
covered  by  impenetrable  virgin  forests,  inhabited  by 
innumerable  wild  beasts,  we  shall  understand  these  super- 
human efforts  to  defend  themselves  from  their  attacks, 
and  to  avail  themselves  of  the  protection  of  water  against 
the  attacks  of  an  enemy  of  superior  strength.  With 
regard  to  the  moral  life  of  the  lake  dwellers  of  Switzer- 
land we  are  reduced  as  in  so  many  other  cases  to  mere 
conjecture.  Those  of  the  neolithic  age  probably  worshipped 
nature,  but  they  did  not  stain  their  religious  rites  by  bloody 
sacrifices.  It  is  said  that  the  erratic  blocks,  scattered  in 
such  profusion  in  all  mountainous  districts  where  glaciers 
occur,  served  them  for  altars.^ 

Until  quite  lately  it  was  not  known  where  and  in  what 
manner  the  lake  dwellers  buried  their  dead,  or  even  if 
they  did  so  at  all.  A  recent  and  quite  unforeseen  discovery 
has  thrown  light  upon  this  doubtful  question ;  I  allude  to 
the  discovery  made  at  Auvernier,  not  far  from  the  shores 
of  Lake  Neufchatel,  of  a  burial  cave  containing  at  least 
a  dozen  corpses  of  every  age  and  sex,  which  had  been 
interred  in   stone  coffins.     This  stone   coffin,  like  those 

•  Some  antiquaries  consider  that  this  use  was  made  of,  1st,  the 
Cnwrt  Stone,  still  to  be  seen  in  the  lake  near  Lausanne ;  2nd,  the 
Nodding  Stones,  situated  near  Geneva ;  and  3rd,  the  Weddbu/  Stone 
(lake  of  Neufchatel),  where,  a  few  years  ago,  betrothed  couples  still 
swore  eternal  love  and  tidelity  to  each  other. 


118  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

found  in  England,  was  barely  six  feet  long  by  three  and 
a  half  wide,  and  five  deep.  It  was  formed  of  great  slabs 
of  granite  placed  upright  and  covered  by  other  stones,  like 
the  dolmens,  with  this  difference,  however,  that  the  tombs 
of  Auvernier  were  hollowed  in  the  ground  and  enclosed  by 
granite  slabs.  Moreover,  on  the  southern  side  there  was 
a  sort  of  narrow  passage,  with  no  stone  roof,  communi- 
cating with  the  principal  division  or  tomb.  Another 
accessory  chamber,  constructed  on  the  northern  side,  en- 
closed two  skulls  and  a  few  bones.  Although  some  bronze 
objects  (evidently  of  more  recent  importation)  were  found 
in  this  new  kind  of  dolmen,  M.  Desor  attributes  the  tomb 
of  Auvernier  to  the  end  of  the  neolithic  age. 

It  therefore  appears  that  the  lake  dwellers  committed 
their  dead  to  the  earth  and  surrounded  them  with  stone 
slabs  in  the  form  of  a  coffin,  thus  suggesting  a  comparison 
with  the  gigantic  monuments  which  we  shall  describe 
under  the  name  of  dolmens.  The  objects  interred  with 
the  dead,  although  few  in  number,  also  bear  a  close  re- 
semblance to  those  of  the  dolmens  (serpentine  axes  per- 
forated for  suspension,  teeth  of  bears  and  wild  boars,  and 
bone  discs  also  pierced,  &c.). 

The  anatomical  characteristics  of  the  lake  dwellers  of 
Switzerland  are  scarcely  better  known  than  their  moral 
and  religious  ideas.  However,  M.  His,  upon  insufficient 
data  as  we  think,  has  undertaken  to  class  them  according 
to  the  form  of  the  skull.  He  distinguishes  fjur  principal 
types  :— 

1.  That  of  Sion,  where  the  dolichocephalous^  character 
is  strongly  marked. 

2.  That  of  Hohlberff  1  -r>  j-i,    i  t  i  i    i 

3.  That  of  Bel-Air     j  ^°^'^  dobchocephalous. 

4.  That  of  Dissentis.  the  only  brachycephalous  type. 
But  we  place  little  faith  in  these  sharply  defined  racial 

characters. 

*  The  dolichocephalous  skulls  (or  long-heads)  are  those  of  which  the 
form  is  comparatively  long  and  narrow;  the  brachycephalous  (or  short- 
heads)  are  distinguished  by  their  relatively  greater  transverse  diameter, 
as  compai'ed  to  the  longitudinal  section  ;  the  mesocephalou  (or  mean- 
heads)  hold  the  middle  place  between  the  two  above-mentioned  forms 


FAUNA   OF  SWISS  LAIOil   CITIES.  119 

To  judge  from  the  bones,  imfortiinately  few  in  number, 
found  in  the  Swiss  hikes,  their  inhabitants  were  of  sm;dl 
size  and  possessed  of  no  grace  of  limb.  But  we  cannot 
decide  with  certainty  the  ethnic  origin  of  these  strange 
tribes,  which  is  enveloped  in  obscurity,  so  that  we  can 
only  wander  with  uncertain  steps  in  the  region  of  con- 
jecture. Nevertheless,  these  unknown  people,  be  they 
whom  they  may,  have  left  to  us  beneath  the  clear  waters 
of  their  lakes,  records  whose  meaning  is  as  clear  as  that 
of  the  pyramids,  the  statues,  and  the  sphinx  of  Egypt. 
Modern  science  has  already  cleared  up  unexpectedly  some 
points  of  the  history  of  this  people  ;  but  there  is  no  written 
record  of  its  origin  or  its  end,  and  the  bones  which  remain 
are  too  few  in  number  to  allow  us  to  decide  with  certainty 
to  what  race  it  belonged. 


Fauna  of  the  Sw^iss  Lake  Dwellings.    (After  Riitimeyer.) 

Sus  scrofa  ferns 

„    domestic  us 
Eqiins  cahallus 
Ccrvus  alces 
„       elaplms 
„       caprcolus 
Oris  arics 


Z'rsns  arctos 

Mek's  indfjaris 

Mustelafoina 
„        martes 
„       putorius 
„        ermine  a 

J.vtra  vulgaris 

Canis  hqms 
„     familiar  is 

„       VuJjK'S 

Felis  cat  us 
Erinaceiis  europcrns 
(Mstor  Jiher 
Sciurus  exiropcens 
Mus  sylvaticus 
Lepus  timidus 


Antilopc  rujncajjra 
Bos  2^rimigenius 
„    Mso)i 

Tmi/)'us  primiffeniiis 
„       hrachijceros 
„       frontosus 
Capra  ibex 

hirciis 


To  this  list  we  must  add  about  twenty  birds  and  ten 
species  of  reptiles  or  of  fish  which  are  still  extant.  Out 
of  the  thirty-two  species  of  mammalia  mentioned  above, 
six  were  domesticated,  namely,  the  dog,  the  horse,  the  pig, 
the  goat,  the  sheep,  and  the  ox,  of  w^iich  last  there  were 
several  varieties.  The  hare  is  extremely  rare,  and  the 
mouse,  the  rat,  the  cat,  the  ass,  and  the  fowl  are  entirely 
absent.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  fauna  also  differs  from 
the  present  fauna  of  Switzerland  by  the  possession  of  the 


120  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

urus,    of  the  aurochs  or  European  bison,  the  elk,   the 
8tag,  and  the  wild  boar. 

IV.    THE  FLORA  OF  THE  S^WISS  LAKE  DWELLINGS. 

Like  the  fauna  of  the  same  epoch,  this  flora  offers  the 
closest  analogy  with  that  of  our  day.  However,  a  plant 
then  very  common  in  Switzerland  {Trapa  natans)  seems 
to  have  completely  disappeared,  though  Lubbock  affirms 
that  it  is  still  occasionally  to  be  met  with.  Some  few  have 
only  changed  their  altitude ;  such  are  the  Finns  mughon 
and  the  Nuphar  pumilum,  or  dwarf  water  Hly.  For  the 
rest,  this  flora,  in  its  two  principal  elements,  the  plain  and 
the  mountain,  has  its  root  in  the  lignites  of  Diirnten  and 
Utznach,  where  larches,  pines,  and  maples  of  similar 
species  to  the  modern  ones  occur. 

We  subjoin  a  list  drawn  up  by  Professor  Heer,  and 
borrowed  from  the  work  'Habitations  Lacustres,'  of  M. 
Troy  on,  of  the  seeds  and  fruits  of  the  stone  age  found  in 
the  Swiss  lakes. 

I.  Cereals. 


Wheat    . 
German  wheat 

j»  »'  • 

Six-ranked  Barley . 
Double-ranked  Barley 


Tritioiim  viilgare,y^i\\.  Robenhausen.  Wangen 
„         diocoGcnvi,  Schw.  „ 

„         monocoocwm,  L.  „ 

Hurdeuvi  hexasUchon,  L.       „  „ 

„         distichum,  L.  » 


II.    FllUlTS. 
Apple  tree  (two  varieties, 

wild  and  cultivated)  .  Pynis  malus,  L.  .  Robenhausen.  Wangen 

Pear  tree         .         .         .  Pyrus  communis,  L.  .  „  ,> 

Cherry  tree    .         .         •  Primus  mmim,  L.  .  „ 

rium  tree       .         .         .         „       insiticia,  L.  .  „ 

III.  Textile  Plants. 

^Ij^x      .         .         .  Linum.  vsitatisslmum,  I..  Robenliauscn.  Wangen 


>  At  Wangen  several  bushels  of  wheat  were  found  heaped  up  in  one 
place  This  was  evidently  the  provision  of  some  family  or  tribe.  The 
preservation  of  seeds,  fruits,  and  even  bread,  found  at  Robenhausen 
and  Wan^^en,  is  a  most  unexpected  plienomenon,  but  it  can  be  explamed 
bv  the  more  or  less  complete  carbonisation  which  they  have  undergone, 
and  by  the  preserving  virtue  of  the  peat  in  wliich  they  are  found. 
Wliat  are  the  antiqui^ties  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeu  compared  to 
those  of  Wangen  and  Robenhausen  ? 


ANCIENT   P.EONIANS. 


121 


Hazel  nut  ' 
Uoech  nut 
inackbeny 
Iiaspberrv 
!StrH\\  berry 
Sloe 


IV.  Edible  Wild  Fruits. 

.   Conjlus  arellann,  L.  .  llobcnbauscn 

.  Fiuius  sylvutica,  L.     .  „ 

.  Jiuhu.s  idfet/s,  L.          .  ,, 

„      frueticosi/a,  L.  „ 

.  Fvagaria  visca,  L.      .  ,, 

.  JiU/ius  sjnnosa,  L.       .  „ 


Wan  gen 


V.  Other  Seeds  and  Fruits  which  may  have  been  used 
FOR  Food. 


Bird  cherry    . 
Water  chestnut 
Yew 
Common    Cornel 

wood) 
Water  lily       . 
Yellow  water  lily 
Dwarf  water  lily 
Lake  scirpus  . 
8coich  Mr 
Marsh  fir 


DoG'- 


Prunvs  padus,  L. 
Trapa  nutans,  L. 
Taxus  haccata,  L. 

.   Cor  mis  san  guinea,  L. 
.  Nymphcea  alba,  L. 
.  Kuphar  luteum,  L. 
.  Nu pilar pxnmluni,  L. 
.  Scirpus  laciistris,  L. 
.  Pinus  sylcistris,  L. 
.  Pinus  uli(jinosa,  L. 


Robenhausen.  Wangen 


"VVe  must  add  to  this  list  the  Sambucus  nigra  or  com- 
mon elder,  of  which  the  fruit  is  edible,  and  is  used  to 
make  a  preserve ;  the  TriticuTn  turgid^iTn  (Egyptian 
wheat),  Triticum  spelta,  Secale  cereale,  Avena  sativa, 
Panicum  miliaceum,  Setaria  italica,  Silene  cretica,  Faba 
vulgaris^  Fisum  sativum,  Ervum  lens,  Linum  angusti- 
folium.  Hemp  appears  to  have  been  unknown  to  the 
hike  dwellers  of  Switzerland. 

V.    ANCIENT  AND  MODEEN    CONSTRUCTIONS    SIMILAR 
TO   THE    LAKE    DWELLINGS. 

All  the  authors  who  have  studied  the  huts  built  on 
piles  have  mentioned  those  of  Lake  Prasias,  in  Thrace,  as 
presenting  a  remarkable  analogy  with  the  lake  cities  of 
Switzerland.  Professor  Virchow  of  BerHn,  one  of  the 
last  to  treat  of  them,  gives  from  Herodotus  (fifth  century 
before  Christ)  the  following  description  of  the  aquatic 
dwellings  of  the  ancient  Pseonians  : — 

'  The  people  of  the  Paeonians  dwelt  in  Thrace.  Several 

of  these  tribes  had  settled  on  dry  land.     But  one  of  them 

inhabited  a  city  built  on  piles,  in  the  middle  of  the  lake 

'  Some  of  these  have  a  hole  bored  through  them,  as  if  they  had  been 
used  fur  necklace-beads  or  children's  toys. 


122  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

of  Prasias,  whose  only  communication  with  the  shore  was 
a  narrow  bridge.  The  town,  of  which  the  piles  had  been 
set  up  in  the  first  instance  by  the  common  labour  of  the 
citizens,  continually  increased  in  size  ;  for  each  citizen 
who  took  a  wife  was  bound  to  bring  three  posts  from  the 
neighbouring  forest  of  Orbelos,  and  to  fix  them  in  the 
lake;  the  number  of  wives  was  not  limited.  On  these 
piles  a  common  flooring  of  beams  was  placed,  and  each 
man  built  thereon  his  hut,  communicating  with  the  water 
by  a  trapdoor.  They  fastened  the  little  children  by  a  cord 
that  they  might  not  fall  into  the  water.  Horses  and  cattle 
were  fed  upon  fish,  which  were  so  abundant  in  the  lake 
that  it  was  only  necessary  to  open  the  trapdoor  and  let 
down  a  net,  which  was  soon  filled.' 

Hippocrates,  in  his  treatise  on  Air,  Water,  and  Places, 
tells  us  that  the  people  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Phasis 
(the  river  rendered  famous  by  the  Grolden  Fleece  and  the 
Expedition  of  the  Argonauts)  built  houses  of  wood  and 
reeds  on  piles  in  the  middle  of  the  marshes ;  their  health, 
he  adds,  is  much  impaired  by  this  way  of  life. 

Even  to  this  day,  and  in  the  same  place,  the  inhabit- 
ants build  their  dwellings  as  in  the  time  of  Hippocrates. 
Virchow  further  informs  us,  on  the  authority  of  the  traveller 
Maurice  Wagner,  '  that  the  town  of  Eedout-Kaleh,  on  the 
Chopi,  is  composed  of  two  long  rows  of  wooden  huts. 
These  huts,  which  are  hardly  larger  and  more  spacious 
than  the  booths  at  Frankfort  fair,  rest  on  piles  raised  a 
foot  above  the  marshy  soil.  The  same  is  true  of  Novo- 
Tscherkask,  the  capital  of  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don.' 
(Virchow,  '  Eevue  des  cours  scientifiques,'  1866,  vol.  iv. 
p.  10.) 

In  modern  times  we  know  of  a  number  of  places  where 
habitations  are  constructed  more  or  less  resembling  the 
lake  cities  of  ancient  Helvetia.  Without  speaking  of  the 
Papuans  of  New  Guinea,  who  at  the  present  day  build 
their  hoiises  precisely  after  the  fashion  of  the  Paeonians, 
the  persistence  of  this  same  mode  of  construction  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  banks  of  the  Phasis,  and  even  among 
the   Cossacks  of  the  Don,  is  worthy  of  remark.      Very 


LAKE  HUTS  IN  COCIIIX   CHINA. 


^23 


siniiliir  habitations  occur  also  in  various  parts  of  Oceania, 
in  i^orneo,  in  the  Islands  of  Coram  and  jNlindanao,  &c. 
Dmnont  d'Urville  saw  at  Tondano,  in  the  Island  of  Celel)es. 
a  town  now  almost  entirely  destroyed,  private  dwellings 
supported  on  piles  artistically  carved,  and  representing 
men  and  animals.  He  tells  us  that  Tondano  is  a  compound 
word,  signifying  nuui  of  the  tvater,  and  that  the  houses  of 


Fig.  36.  MonKnx  t.akk  dwet.ltxgs  of  thk  tnttabitants  of  Xew 
Guinea.     (After  Duniuut  (.rUrville.) 

this  town  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  reed  huts 
and  marsh  dwellings  of  la  Vendee,  his  native  country. 

In  the  port  of  Dorei  in  New  Guinea  certain  houses,  or 
sanctuaries  consecrated  to  the  gods,  are  raised  on  piles 
representing  naked  human  figures.  In  many  tribes  the 
ordinary  houses  are  also  built  in  like  manner  (fig.  36). 

The  interior  of  Africa  is  still  too  little  known  to  enable 
us  to  mention  many  lake  dwellings  in  that  country.  The 
practice  of  building  above  the  surface  of  the  water  seems 
however  to  have  taken  root  there,  at  least  along  the  banks 
of  the  Niger,  the  Zambesi,  and  the  Tsadda. 


124 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 


In  Cochin  China,  the  present  inhabitants  of  Camboja 
(placed  under  the  protectorate  of  France  in  1864),  'live,' 
Dr.  Noulet  tells  us,  '  in  bamboo  huts  supported  on  piles, 
not  only  along  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  but  also  on  land, 
and  even  in  the  vast  forests  which  cover  the  interior  of 
the  country,  and  in  places  where  there  can  be  no  risk  of 
floods.'  1 

With  regard  to  America,  we  know  that  in  order  more 
surely  to  avoid  hostile  attacks,  the  Aztecs  raised  their 
houses  of  cane  and  reed  on  piles,  planted  among  a  group 
of  low  and  marshy  islands,  which  they  afterwards  con- 
nected by  dikes  protected  by  palisades.  Such  was  the 
origin  of  Mexico,  which  resembles  at  once,  as  we  see,  the 


Fig.  37,  Tkansverse  section  of  an  Irish  crannoge.      (After  Lubbock.) 

crannoges  of  Ireland  (fig.  37)  and  the  lake  dwellings  of 
Switzerland. 

Lastly,  on  their  arrival  in  the  New  World,  the  Spaniards 
saw  on  the  lagoon  of  Maracaibo  a  kind  of  village  entirely 
built  on  piles,  '  a  little  wooden  Venice,'  says  Elisee  Eeclus, 
to  which  one  of  the  republics  of  Columbia  owes  at  the 
present  day  its  name  Venezuela.  In  the  same  way  the 
floating  islands  ^  of  the  ancient  Assyrians  and  Chinese 
had,  or  have  still,  their  parallels  in  jNIexico,  in  those  floating 
gardens  which  the  first  historians  of  the  conquest  describe 
with  enthusiasm,  and  which  were  a  species  of  raft  covered 

*  Dr.  Noulet,  JJof/e  de  la  pierre  polic  ct  du  bronze  an  Camhodfje, 
d'aprh  Irs  drrourrrtes  de  3f.  J.  Moiira,  lieutenant  de  rauseav,  repre- 
sentant  du  j)roteet<n'at  frgnqaia  au  Camhodtje,  in  the  archives  of  the 
Natural  History  Museum  of  Toulouse,  1879,  p.  6,  first  report. 

2  On  the  Assyrian  bas-reliefs  are  to  be  seen  artificial  islands  formed 
of  q-roat  reeds,  interlaced  with  one  another,  and  which  served  as 
d\vcllin"-s  to  the  wealthy  men  of  the  time  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon. 


THE  NURAGHI   OF  SARDINIA.  125 

with  soil,  bearing  houses  surrounded  by  the  fairest  flowers 
and  the  richest  vegetation. 

According  to  M.  Desor,  the  Isle  of  Roscf^^  in  the  lake 
of  St<irnberg  in  Bavaria,  is  only  an  artificial  island  dating 
from  the  stone  age,  and  inhabited  from  that  time  down  to 
our  own  day.  At  this  very  day  a  castle  rises  in  the  midst 
of  its  cool  shade.' 

VI.   THE    NUKAGHI   OF  SARDINIA. 

The  Xuraghi  are  perhaps  the  most  curious  monuments 
of  the  stone  age.  Those  cyclopean  constructions,  which 
have  withstood  the  wear  of  centuries,  and  which,  scattered 
almost  in  profusion  throughout  Sardinia  (the  Abbate 
Spano  has  counted  more  than  40,000  of  them),  still  rear 
their  imposing  mass  before  the  wondering  eyes  of  the 
traveller  and  of  the  archaeologist.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
they  were  the  cradle  and  home  of  the  primitive  races  who 
settled  in  the  island  in  the  remote  past.  The  labours  of 
the  learned  Abbate  Giovanni  Spano  ^  have  proved  beyond 
dispute  that  we  have  here  one  of  the  earliest  examples  of 
the  natural  formation  of  a  society  by  men  after  they  have 
abandoned  the  nomadic  life  of  hunters.  Here,  as  Mante- 
gazza  has  happily  expressed  it,  '  We  may  read  a  page  of 
history  written  by  an  ancient  people  over  the  whole  face 
of  Sardinia.' 

What  this  people  was,  we  do  not  know.  Spano  sup- 
poses them  to  have  come  from  the  plains  of  Shinar  at 
the  time  of  the  great  emigration  which  dispersed  the 
tribes  of  Chaldea  through  Persia,  Palestine,  Greece,  Italy, 
and  Northern  Europe.  The  first  comers  grouped  their 
dwellings  in  the  most  favourable  sites  for  combined  resist- 
ance in  case  of  a  hostile  invasion.  By  degrees,  as  the 
chiefs  of  the  tribes  grew  more  powerful,  as  the  family 
increased,  the  dwellings  became  more  numerous.  New 
comers  built  others ;  and  here  we  find  the  explanation  of 
the  fact  that  all  the  Nuraghi  are  not  equally  well  built, 

'  E.  Desor,  Les  Palafittes  on  constructions  lacustrcs  da  hic  dc  Nciif- 
chdtel,  p.  11.     Paris,  1865. 

-  8ee  Giovanni  8pan(j,  Palmntologia  norda,  ossria  Vcta  prrJiistorica 
segmita  nei  monumcnti  chc  si  trocano  in  Sardigna.  C'agliari,  IbTl. 


126 


THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 


Fig.  38.  A  Sardinian  nuraghi  of  the  earliest 

EPOCH. 


the  earliest  being  constructed  simply  of  natural  masses, 
which  had  been  detached  from  the  neighbouring  rocks 
and  lay  scattered  upon  the  ground,  while  those  of  a  later 

date  are  built  of 
hewn  stone,  al- 
though the  ma- 
sonry still  re- 
mains rude.  The 
former  belong  to 
the  stone  age, 
the  latter  to  that 
of  bronze o 

They  are  all 

in  the  form  of  a 

truncated    cone. 

Some  have  only 

one  room  ;    others  two,  and  sometimes  even  three,  one 

above    the    other.      In  the  interior  of  these   there  is  a 

winding  stair  made  of  enormous  blocks  placed  at  an  acute 

angle  in  the  thickness  of 
the  wall,  leading  to  the 
upper  chamber.  Others 
again  have  an  outer  wall 
enclosing  a  triangular  or 
polygonal  space,  with  an 
apartment  of  the  same 
form  as  the  Nuraghi  at 
each  angle.  These  rooms 
communicate  with  each 
other  by  vaulted  passages 
of  which  the  roof  is 
almost  always  pointed. 
Each  layer  of  stone  is 
laid  without  mortar  (figs. 
38  and  39).  The  interior  consists  sometimes  of  a  great 
room  with  a  conical  roof,  and  capable  of  containing  forty 
or  fifty  people. •     Tho  vaulted  roof  is   built  of  uniform 


Fig.  39.  Vertical,  section  of  the 
same,  showing  the  niches  and 
the  winding  staik. 


>  The  Nura"-ln  tciirola  of  the  land  of  Botolana  serves  as  a  shelter  in 


POTTERY   IN    THE   NURAGIIT.  127 

Btone?:,  disposed  like  those  of  our  modern  buildings,  pre- 
senting, that  is  to  say,  their  larger  end  to  the  outer,  and 
their  smaller  to  the  inner  surface  of  the  wall. 

The  most  ancient  Nuraghi  have  but  one  room,  without 
niches  or  hiding-places  constructed  in  the  thickness  of  the 
wall,  and  terminated  in  a  pointed  arch.  Three  such 
niches  usually  occur  in  the  dwellings  of  a  later  age,  one 
opposite  the  door,  and  one  on  either  side.  Another  niche 
to  the  right  of  the  door  was  intended  as  a  lurking-place 
for  the  defender  of  the  entrance  in  case  of  attack. 

The  soil  which  has  been  formed  round  the  earliest 
Nuraghi  since  their  construction  is  no  less  than  two  or 
three  yards  in  thickness.  In  the  lowest  layer  we  find 
remains  of  rude  hand-made  pottery,  coal  and  bones 
crumbled  to  dust,  but  never  bones  of  species  extinct  in 
the  island,  except  stag's  antlers  and  boar's  tusks,  inter- 
mixed with  accumulations  of  the  remains  of  birds.  Pieces 
of  flint  and  of  obsidian  occur  also,  axes  of  black  basalt  and 
porphyry  of  the  archaeolithic  type,  fragments  of  pottery,  &c.,. 
some  of  which  appear  to  belong  to  the  earliest  stone  age.^ 

In  the  succeeding  layers,  we  come  to  polished  axes, 
arrow  heads,  knives,  stones  for  slinging,  fossilised  teeth  of 
the  dogfish,  pottery  which  has  been  partially  baked  by 

■winter  to  about  500  pigs,  driven  down  from   the  mountains  by  the 
swineherds. 

>  Many  French  archaeologists  maintain  that  pottery  dates  only  from 
the  age  of  polished  stone.  We  know,  however,  that  M.  de  Serres  found 
at  Bize  in  Aude,  and  M.  de  Christol  at  Souvignargues  in  Garde,  fragments 
of  pottery  which  it  is  scarcely  possible  not  to  consider  contemporary 
with  the  reindeer,  perhaps  even  with  the  bear,  in  company  with  whose 
remains  they  were  found.  I  myself  extracted  some  from  a  bear  cave  at 
Kabrigas  (Loz^re),  M.  Ferry  at  Vergisson,  near  Macon,  and  M.  Dupont 
in  several  bone  caves  of  Belgium  has  observed  specimens  of  still  earlier 
date.  Lastly,  the  Abbate  Giovanni  Spano  assures  us  that  he  found  in 
the  different  layers  of  soil  which  surround  the  Kuraghi  of  Sardinia, 
earthen  vases  (entire  or  in  pieces)  belonging  to  all  the  ages,  '  stovxylie 
che  in  se  jm-tano  il  carattere  di  u/i'  eta  la  j/iu  rimota,'  says  the  learned 
abbate.  He  calls  attention  also  to  the  fact  that  the  nidest  specimens 
occur  in  the  lowest  layer.  Those  which  are  found  in  the  second  or 
middle  layer  are  less  rude,  and  so  on  uniil  we  arrive  at  the  uppermost 
strata,  where  they  are  smooth  and  polished.  Some  few  even  appear  to 
belong  to  the  Roman  epoch.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  giant  tombs  m 
the  neighbourliood  of  the  Nuraghi,  we  only  tind  ill-formed  pottery  of 
the  rudest  description. 


128  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

fire,  with  teeth  of  the  wild  boar  and  other  animals,  and 
shells  of  several  species  of  molluscs,  which  appear  to  be  the 
kitchen  refuse  of  these  primitive  tribes.  Lastly,  smooth 
black  fragments  of  pottery  have  been  extracted  from  the 
upper  layers,  as  well  as  pieces  of  bronze,  which  indicate 
the  age  of  transition  between  stone  and  this  metal.  The 
Abbate  Spano  has  not  been  able  to  find  any  iron  objects  : 
he  accounts  for  the  absence  of  iron  by  the  destructive 
effect  of  damp  ground  and  the  influence  of  the  atmo- 
sphere upon  this  metal. 

The  same   savant  attributes   the  construction  of  the 


Fig.  40.  Burgh  of  Moussa,  Shetland  Isles.     (After  Lubbock.) 

Nuraghi  to  the  first  immigrants  who  came  from  the  East 
into  Europe.  Orientals  or  aborigines,  archreolithic  or  neo- 
lithic, these  peoples  have  in  any  case  left  us  monuments 
of  real  and  great  value  to  the  history  of  humanity,  and 
although  we  do  not  adopt  all  the  Abbate's  theories  without 
reserve,  we  recognise  with  gratitude  the  zeal  which  their 
discoverer  has  displayed  in  dispelling,  to  some  extent,  the 
obscurity  which  still  envelopes  them. 

Similar  monuments  have  been  found  in  the  Balearic 
isles,  where  they  are  known  by  the  name  of  Talayoti  ;  in 
the  Island   of  Pantelleria,  where  they  are  called  Sesi ; 


SDIILAR   CONSTRUCTIONS   IN    IRELAND. 


129 


and  even  in   France,  in  tlie  department   of  Heranlt,  ac- 
cording to  M.  Cazalis  of  Fondouce. 

j^ut  they  are  especially  numerous  in  Scotland  and  the 
neighbouring  islands.  They  are  there  known  as  burghs 
or  brocks,  and  we  give  an  illustration  of  one  of  the  most 
celebrated,  the  burgh  of  JNIoussa,  one  of  the  Shetland  Isles 
(hg.  40).  It  will  be  seen  that  these  monuments  resemble 
in  every  respect  the  Nuraghi  of  Sardinia,  and  the  existence 
of  an  identical  type  in  so  distant  a  country  renders  the 
truth  of  the  hypothesis  of  the  Abbate  Spano  with  regard 


■"■? 

^'^t^^" 


Fig.  41.  Fort  of  Staigue  (Kekhy  ) 


to  the  origin  of  the  builders  of  the  Xuraghi  extremely 
doubtful. 

In  the  British  Isles,  moreover,  the  construction  of 
similar  buildings  of  uncemented  stones  continued  until 
very  late,  and  some  of  them,  like  Fort  Staigue,  for  in- 
stance (fig.  41),  are  certainly  subsequent  not  only  to  the 
age  of  stone,  but  even  to  that  of  bronze. 


130  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

BURIAL    PLACES. 
I.    VAmOUS    MODES    OF    SEPULTUKE. 

As  the  anatomist  demands  from  death  the  secrets  of 
life,  so  the  archaeologist  seeks  in  the  tombs  a  revelation 
of  the  secrets  of  the  past.  If  many  tombs  are  forgotten 
or  silent,  others  are  faithful  narrators  of  the  history  of 
bygone  times,  and,  as  it  were,  bring  again  to  Hfe  those 
whose  bones  they  contain,  and  make  us  acquainted  with 
the  customs  and  the  ideas  of  the  tribes  or  the  nations  to 
which  they  belonged.  Moreover,  all  ruins  appeal  to  the 
imagination;  and  what  ruins  can  be  more  eloquent  or 
more  suggestive  than  a  skull  or  any  other  human  remains  ? 
Some  ideas  and  certain  feelings  appeal  to  the  sym- 
pathies of  all  humanity,  and  this  is  especially  the  case  with 
those  respecting  the  worship  of,  and  respect  for,  the  dead. 
But  the  manifestation  of  these  feehngs,  and  the  thoughts 
which  result  from  them,  vary  considerably  according  to 
time  and  place.  Thus  the  modern  Hindus  commit  to  the 
waters  of  the  Ganges  the  bodies  of  their  aged  parents, 
whom  they  have  purposely  allowed  to  die  of  starvation  on 
the  banks  of  the  sacred  river.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
Viti  Islands,  and  the  Esquimaux,  bury  their  nearest  rela- 
tions alive  when  they  have  attained  a  certain  age,  in 
order  to  spare  them  the  inconveniences  and  sufferings  of 
old  age.  According  to  Dumont  d'Urville,  the  natives  of 
New  South  Wales  burn  the  bodies  of  those  who  die 
young  and  bury  those  of  the  old.  Sir  Massinger  Bradley 
tells  us  that  certain  tribes  of  South  Austraha  do  not  bury 
their  dead,  but  light  a  great  fire  in  the  hut,  and  suspend 
the  corpse  above  the  hearth  :  when  it  is  di'ied  they  wrap 


TLACES   OF  BURIAL.  131 

it  in  a  coarse  cloth  and  lay  it  in  a  tree  in  the  midst 
of  the  leaves.  A  yd  stranger  custom  is  that  which  the 
traveller  ^lacdonald  says  that  he  observed  among  the 
natives  of  the  Upper  Mary  Kiver,  in  Queensland.  They 
flay  the  dead,  feed  upon  the  flesh,  and  distribute  the 
bones  among  the  various  members  of  the  family.  They 
prepare  the  skin  with  care,  and  bear  it  about  with  them 
as  a  precious  relic  ('Revue  scientifique,'  November,  187 H, 
p.  47()). 

The  ceremonies  practised  by  the  Egyptians  in  the  em- 
balming of  bodies  are  well  known,  as  well  as  the  processes 
employed  by  the  Peruvians  of  the  time  of  the  Incas  in 
order  to  preserve  the  bodies  of  their  deceased  relations. 

Burial  places  belonging  to  the  archgeolithic  age  are 
comparatively  rare  ;  ^  and  many  which  were  first  believed 
to  belong  to  the  earlier  epoch  have  proved,  upon  a  nearer 
examination,  to  date  only  from  the  age  of  polished  stone. 
Very  little  is  known  of  the  funereal  rites  practised  in  the 
early  part  of  the  quaternary  epoch ;  but  in  the  reindeer 
age  {Soliitre;  cave  of  Duruthy,  &c.)  the  bodies  were 
stretched  horizontally  upon  the  hearths,  surrounded  with 
ashes  and  embers;  sometimes  the  bones  are  more  or  less 
carbonised. 

We  are  far  better  informed  as  to  the  treatment  of  the 
dead  in  the  subsequent  ages.  Thus,  in  the  neolithic 
epoch  interment  was  the  most  widely  diffused  custom, 
but  cremation  was  already  practised  towards  the  end  of 
the  epoch  of  the  dolmens.  This  custom  prevailed,  but  not 
universally,  during  the  age  of  bronze.  The  last  asylum 
which  the  tribes  of  the  age  of  polished  stone  reserved  for 
the  dead  was  sometimes  the  natural  or  artificial  caves 
which  often  had  served  them  as  dwelling-places ;  some- 
times monuments  of  huge  stones  of  various  construction, 
but  usually  formed  of  slabs  of  unhewn  stone  and  of  colossal 
sizejuncovered  dolmens,  dolmens  covered  by  a  tiimiUus, 

'  Gaetano  Chierici  asserts,  however,  that  he  discovered  in  Italy  (a 
San  Polo)  some  tombs  which  date  in  his  opinion  from  the  first  stone 
ajre :  he  considers  this  burial  ground  to  be  hitherto  unique  in  that 
country. 


132  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE   HUMAN  EACE. 

cromlechs,  covered  alleys,  giants^  tombs,  American  chul- 
pas).  M.  Broca  was  therefore  in  error  when  he  laid  it 
down  as  a  principle  that  at  the  epoch  of  splintered  stone 
men  buried  their  dead  in  caves,  and  that  in  the  poHshed 
stone  age  the  dead  were  interred  in  dolmens ;  since  in 
Aveyron,  for  instance,  we  find,  at  a  short  distance  apart, 
monuments  of  huge  stones  and  burial  caves  in  which  the 
objects  buried  with  the  dead  are  precisely  the  same  (e.g., 
the  cave  of  Saint-Jean  d'Alcas  and  the  dolmen  of  Pilaude). 
Cremation  continued  until  the  age  of  iron,  when  inter- 
ment was  once  more  practised.  Such  appears  to  have  been 
the  almost  universal  rule ;  but  this  rule  was  subject  to 
numerous  variations,  according  to  the  religious  ideas  of 
the  different  peoples  and  their  reciprocal  relations  and 
alliances.^  I  desire  no  further  proof  of  this  than  the  ashes 
and  calcined  human  bones  discovered  by  the  Earl  of  An- 
trim in  certain  neolithic  tombs  of  Great  Britain.  A  still 
more  conclusive  proof  is  that  furnished  by  certain  dolmens 
of  Aveyron  (those  of  la  Marconniere),  where  M.  Prunieres 
found  at  the  same  time  bones  which  had  never  been  ex- 
posed to  the  action  of  fire,  and  others  burnt  black  and 
shining  like  jet.  Some  fine  lance  heads  of  polished  flint 
lay  over  these  bones,  but  there  was  no  trace  of  metal.^ 

During  the  iron  age  the  two  rites  (interment  and  cre- 
mation) were  sometimes  practised  simultaneously.  In  the 
case  of  the  cremation  of  bodies  the  ashes  and  the  bones 
which  are  not  entirely  consumed  are  placed  in  funereal 
urns,  which  form  part  of  the  furniture  of  the  tomb. 

The  position  in  which  the  dead  are  placed  varies  with 
the  mode  of  burial.  Usually,  in  the  age  of  polished  stone 
the  body  is  placed  in  a  horizontal  position  on  the  ground 
or  on  the  hearth,  sometimes  covered  by  a  thick  layer 
of  ashes.     It  is  very  rarely  enclosed  in  a  coffin  of  un- 

'  At  an  epoch  nearer  to  our  own  time  the  Eomans  burnt  the  bodies  of 
their  dead,  the  Etruscans  buried  theirs.  The  Gauls  of  the  time  of  Ciesar 
committed  the  corpses  to  the  funeral  pile,  but  several  districts  of  Gaul 
had  remained  faithful  to  the  ancient  practice  of  interment. 

2  Dr.  Puni^res,  Fovillcs  des  dolmens  de  la  3/areo/i/iirre,  MaicHanx^ 
1877,  p.  523.  M.  Waldemar  Schmidt  was  mistaken  in  saying-  that  dead 
bodies  were  never  burnt  in  France  at  the  epoch  of  polished  stone. 


POSITION   OF  THE   CORPSE.  133 

hewn  stones  ;  this  sort  of  chest  or  coffin  is,  on  the  other 
hand,  extremely  common  during  the  age  of  bronze,  and 
especially  during  that  of  iron.  In  the  dolmens  the  body 
is  generally  in  a  sitting  or  crouching  posture,  the  knees 
drawn  up  under  the  chin  and  the  arms  crossed  on  the 
breast.  At  least  this  is  the  attitude  which  seems  to  be  in- 
dicated by  the  position  of  the  bones,  arranged  in  a  circle 
round  the  skull,  which  usually  occupies  the  centre  of  the 
heap  formed  by  the  whole.'  This  was  also  the  position 
in  which  the  ancient  Peruvians  and  the  Guanches  of 
the  Canary  Isles  placed  their  mummies,  so  that  the  corpse 
when  returned  to  the  earth,  our  common  mother,  might 
take  the  posture  natural  to  the  child  in  its  mother's  womb. 
The  Assyrians,  and  the  troglodytes  of  Ethiopia,  also  pl?ced 
their  dead  in  this  attitude,  as  do  also  some  modem  tribes, 
the  I5askirs,  for  example.  Finally,  as  if  primitive  man 
had  a  faint  presentiment  of  a  future  life,  he  placed  beside 
the  dead  man  his  arms,  tools,  and  ornaments — all  the 
objects  which  he  had  valued  during  his  life.  They 
even  left  near  him  a  supply  of  food  destined  to  meet 
his  wants  in  his  new  abode.  The  fire,  of  which  the 
traces  may  be  observed  in  certain  sepulchres,  was  pro- 
bably kindled  to  expel  foul  air,  or  with  a  view  to  some 
mystical  purification.  It  may  sometimes  perhaps  indicate 
a  cannibal  feast,  as  at  Chauvaux,  for  instance. 

We  must  not  close  this  chapter  without  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  among  all  peoples  and  in  all  epochs, 
the  monuments  destined  to  be  the  abode  of  the  dead  offer 
a  close  resemblance  to  the  dwellings  of  the  living,  a  re- 
semblance which  arises  from  the  instinct  of  imitation, 
from  the  natural  inclination  of  man  towards  symbolism, 
and  from  the  widely  spread  belief  that  death  is  but  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  same  kind  of  life  in  another  world : 

Mors  janua  vit;c. 

'  Wilson  mentions  some  British  tombs  of  the  stone  age  in  which 
two  crouching  skeletons  were  found,  together  with  necklaces  of  Nerita 
Uttoralis,  with  traces  of  other  bones.  This  author  thinks  that  these 
skeletons  belonge<l  to  two  tribal  chiefs  whose  widows  and  servants  had. 
been  sacrificed  on  their  tombs.   (Wilson,  Prehistoric  Man,  p.  12i),  1865.) 


134  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN  RACE. 


II.    BUEIAL  IN  CAVES. 

After  having  served  as  a  home  for  the  living,  the 
caves  of  the  stone  age  often  served  as  an  asylum  for  the 
dead.  Among  the  most  famous  we  may  cite  those  of 
Aurignac  and  Herm  (Haute  Graronne),  of  Cro-Magnon 
(Dordogne),  of  Duruthy  (Basses  Pyrenees),  of  Solutre 
(Saone-et-J^oire),  and  among  the  caves  of  a  more  recent 
epoch,  those  of  Saint- Jean  d'Alcas  (Aveyron),  of  Durfort 
(G-ard),  of  I'Homme  Mort  (Lozere),  and  lastly  the  arti- 
ficial caves  hollowed  out  of  the  chalk  on  the  banks  of  the 
Marne.  We  will  examine  a  few  of  these  burial  caves,  be- 
ginning with  that  of  Aurignac. 

Aurignac, — The  discovery  of  the  burial  place  of  Au- 
rignac, rendered  famous  by  the  remarkable  treatise  on  the 
subject  by  M.  Ed.  Lartet,  is  due  to  a  labourer  named 
Bonnemaison,  who,  on  introducing  his  arm  into  a  rabbit- 
hole  on  the  slope  of  the  mountain  of  Fajoles,  near  Saint- 
G-audens,  withdrew  a  human  bone  of  large  size.  Sus- 
pecting the  existence  of  a  burial  ground  on  that  spot,  he 
began  to  clear  the  surrounding  soil,  and  in  a  few  hours 
perceived  a  large  slab  of  sandstone,  placed  vertically 
against  an  arched  opening  which  gave  access  to  a  spacious 
cavity.  There  lay  a  certain  number  of  human  skulls  and 
skeletons,  partly  covered  by  loose  soil,  which  was  probably 
introduced  into  this  sepulchral  cave  at  the  time  of  the 
interment  of  the  bodies  whose  remains  it  contained. 

The  discovery  of  Bonnemaison  attracted  notice,  and 
caused  the  old  inhabitants  of  the  country  to  recount 
tales  about  a  gang  of  coiners  of  false  money,  who,  they 
said,  had  formerly  committed  a  number  of  murders 
and  carried  the  bodies  of  their  victims  into  the  cave  of 
Aurignac. 

The  truth  really  is  that  this  cavity  contained  about 
seventeen  human  skeletons,  which  M.  Amiel,  mayor  of 
the  place,  unfortunately  caused  to  be  re-buried  in  the 
cemetery  of  the  commune  before  a  strict  and  scientific 
examination  made  it  possible  to  determine  the  precise 
date  of  the  original  interment. 


AGE  OF  THE  BURIAL  GROUNDS.         135 

Some  time  afterwards  ]M.  Ed.  Lartet  visited  the  cave, 
aad  found  a  few  hmiian  bones  still  imbedded  in  the  loam 
in  which  the  others  had  been  discovered.  Btside  them 
lay  carved  reindeer  bones,  bones  of  extinct  species  of 
mammalia,  and  splintered  flints. 

'  The  age  of  this  burial  ground,'  observed  M.  Lartet, 
'  cannot  be  determined  either  by  tradition,  or  by  history, 
or  by  numismatic  dates,  since  no  such  recordi^  have  been 
found  which  can  be  used  for  this  purpose.  The  absence 
of  any  kind  of  metal,  the  haliitual  Tise  of  tools  and  weapons 
of  flint  and  bone,  are  sufficient  indications  to  enable  us 
to  attribute  this  settlement  of  Aurignac  to  the  prehistoric 
period  known  to  modern  antiquaries  as  the  age  of  stone. 
Palaeontology  assigns  the  human  race  of  Aurignac  to  the 
most  remote  period  of  antiquity  in  which  we  have  hitherto 
discovered  proofs  of  the  existence  of  man  or  remains  of  his 
industry.  For  this  race  was  not  only  contemporary  with 
the  aurochs,  the  reindeer,  the  great  stag,  the  rhinoceros, 
the  hyena,  &c.,  but  also  with  the  cave  bear,  which 
seems,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  to  have  been  the  last 
to  disappear  of  all  that  group  of  great  mammalia 
always  cited  as  characteristic  of  the  latest  geological 
period.'  ^ 

The  intentionally  broken  bones  of  the  reindeer,  and  of 
most  of  the  extinct  mammalia,  show  that  man  had  long 
dwelt  in  this  cave,  had  eaten  his  meals,  and  had  perhaps 
celebrated  funeral  feasts  therein. 

UHerm.—lTi  1862  MM.  Eames,  Garrigou,  and  Filhol 
explored  the  cave  of  I'Herm,  and  found  in  it  a  quantity  of 
bones  of  Urtius  sjoelceus,  in  company  with  rarer  remains  of 
hycBna  and  Felis  spelcea.  They  also  found  some  human 
bones,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  them  contem- 
porary with  the  extinct  species.  Our  learned  colleague 
Dr.  Noulet,  who  visited  the  same  cave  at  a  later  period 
of  the  same  year,  found  in  the  vestibule,  which  had  not 
been  examined  by  the  three  naturalists  whom  we  have 
just    mentioned,    the   remains   of    about    thirty   human 

'  Ed.  Lartet,  Sur  In  coexistence  de  Vhomme  et  Jos  grands  vianimijeres 
fossiles.     Ann.  iScunccs  Aat.  vol.  xv.  4th  series,  p.  381. 


136  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE, 

skeletons  of  all  ages,  fragments  of  pottery,  bones  carved 
by  human  hands,  and  lastly,  polished  axes  of  jade  in 
a  state  of  excellent  preservation,  a  few  necklace  beads, 
and  a  ring  of  bronze.  But  the  conclusions  of  the  learned 
doctor  were  very  different  from  those  which  his  prede- 
cessors had  formulated.  One  of  them  is  thus  expressed : 
'  The  vestibule  of  the  cave  of  I'Herm  was  the  asylum 
of  the  dead.'  This  cave  was,  then,  used  as  a  burying 
place ;  at  what  epoch  we  shall  shortly  see. 

8olutre. — Bruniquel,  Laugerie  Basse,  la  Madelaine, 
&c.,  were  simply  sheltered  stations,  that  is,  masses  of  rock 
overhanging  more  or  less  spacious  retreats  in  which  man 
might  take  refuge  or  even  dwell.  ]\IM.  de  Ferry  and  Ar- 
celin  first,  and  afterwards  M.  Lartet  and  I'Abbe  Ducrost, 
discovered  at  Solutre,  near  Maconnais,  a  station  in  the 
open  air  which  has  at  the  same  time  been  used  as  a 
burial  ground,  and  which  is  therefore  doubly  interesting 
to  archseologists. 

At  the  foot  of  a  picturesque  hill  which  overlooks  the 
village  is  a  hillock  formed  of  earth  and  loose  stones,  and 
containing  a  number  of  carved  flints,  heaps  of  kitchen 
refuse,  works  of  art  (carved  reindeer  horn  and  stone), 
human  graves  belonging  to  at  least  two  epochs,  bones  of 
the  reindeer,  mammoth,  Arctomys  primigenius,  &c.,  and 
especially  a  great  quantity  of  bones  of  the  horse.  It  was 
on  this  hillock  that  the  tribe  had  sett]ed,  whose  history, 
still  obscure  on  many  points,  has  been  undertaken  by 
MM.  Ferry  and  Arcelin. 

Solutre  is  remarkable  for  the  enormous  heaps  of  bones 
of  the  horse,  more  or  less  calcined,  which  form  quite  a 
wall  of  130  feet  long  by  10  feet  high  round  the  principal 
enclosure  and  close  to  the  hearths.  It  is  calculated  that 
the  bones  of  more  than  ten  thousand  ^  individuals  were 
employed  in  the  construction  of  this  wall.  This  remark- 
able   accumulation    was    produced,    in    the    opinion    of 

»  According  to  yet  more  recent  calculations,  the  number  of  horses  at 
Solutre  has  been  reckoned  at  40,000,  and  the  wall  entirely  formed  of 
their  remains  is  five  feet  in  height  by  eleven  to  fourteen  yards  long,  and 
four  and  a  half  feet  wide. 


MODE   OF  SEPULTURE.  137 

INIM.  Ferr}^  and  Arcelin,  by  funereal  rites  and  bloody 
hecatombs. 

But  we  are  inclined  to  doubt  this  theory,  and  rather 
consider  these  remains  of  horses  as  mere  refuse  heaps, 
true  kitchen  middens,  similar  to  those  of  Denmark,  of  the 
Lapps,  and  of  the  Esquimaux.  The  wall  of  enclosure  which 
we  mentioned  above  probably  enclosed  a  group  of  huts, 
of  which  the  hearths  are  still  to  be  found.  These  elliptical 
hearths  were  surrounded  by  a  ring  of  unhewn  stones,  laid 
flat,  and  incomplete  only  towards  the  setting  sun.  The 
body  of  the  dead  was  laid  there,  the  head  turned  towards 
the  west,  and  his  weapons  *  and  the  objects  which  he  had 
most  valued  while  in  life  were  placed  beside  him.  The 
body  was  placed  on  ashes,  burnt  or  broken  bones,  pieces 
of  flint,  or  tools  of  difl'erent  kinds.  Human  skeletons 
bearing  evident  traces  of  the  action  of  fire  are  not  uncom- 
monly found,  showing  that  the  corpse  was  often  laid  upon 
the  hearth  while  it  was  still  warm,  and  the  fire  not  quite 
extinguished.  A  certain  number  of  graves  have  been 
found  underneath  the  hearths  themselves.  Hence  MM. 
Ferry  and  Arcelin  are  led  to  infer,  and  we  hold  the  same 
opinion,  that  it  was  customary  at  Holutre  to  bury  the  dead 
in  the  hut  where  he  had  passed  his  life.  The  walls  were 
then  thrown  down  over  the  corpse,  and  another  hut  was 
often  built  upon  the  same  spot,  as  the  accumulation  of 
kitchen  refuse  and  of  successive  hearths  above  the  human 
corpses  seem  to  prove.  The  hearths  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing, situated  at  a  considerable  depth  (averaging  five  feet 
and  sometimes  more),  have  to  all  appearance  never  been 
disturbed.  The  human  bones  which  they  contained  are 
therefore  contemporary  with  the  bones  of  the  reindeer  and 
mammoth  found  with  them. 

Besides  the  graves  of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  there 
are  others,  usually  considered  as  belonging  to  the  same 

>  Arrows  are  especially  numerous  at  Solutre ;  and  M.  Ferry  says  they 
display  an  unequalled  finish  of  workmanship.  The  bow  appears  to  have 
been  here  in  common  use,  and  to  judjje  from  the  form,  the  weight,  and 
the  finish  p^iven  to  thi-se  arrows,  the  hunters  who  dwelt  there  seem  to 
h&ve  been  slcilled  in  archery. 


]38  THE   ANTIQUITY  OF   THE   HUMAN  EACE. 

epoch,  which,  instead  of  lying  on  the  hearth  exposed  to 
the  air .  are  placed  upon  heaps  of  horse  bones  ;  or  they 
occupy  the  sub-soil,  situated  at  a  depth  of  two  or  three 
yards  below  the  surface.  In  this  case  carved  flints,  rein- 
deer bones  and  antlers,  bones  of  the  horse,  and  human 
remains  are  found  scattered  pellmell  around  them. 

Lastly,  other  graves,  disposed  without  any  order,  are 
formed  of  slabs  of  unhewn  stone  placed  upright,  which 
form  together  a  sort  of  parallelogram  destined  to  receive 
the  body  :  a  separate  slab  protected  the  head.  This  kind 
of  grave,  much  more  recent  than  the  two  first,  does  not 
appear  to  be  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  age  of  polished 
stone  ;  it  is  even  possible  that  they  belong  to  the  Gallo- 
Koman  epoch,  and  do  not  in  that  case  come  within  the 
scope  of  this  work. 

The  works  of  art  and  of  industry  found  at  Solutre, 
although  very  similar  to  those  of  Languedoc  and  Peri- 
gord,  belong  nevertheless  to  a  different  type,  inter 
mediate  betw^een  that  of  Moustier  and  la  Madelaine,  and 
distinguished,  as  we  have  said,  by  the  arrow  and  lance 
heads  in  the  form  of  a  laurel  leaf,  carved  on  both  sides 
(fig.  18). 

From  the  preceding  facts  we  gather  that  Solutre  was 
formerly  inhabited,  or  at  least  frequently  visited,  by  hunters 
of  reindeer  and  horses.  To  judge  from  the  human  bones 
which  are  found  there,  the  race  who  encamped  in  this 
place  was  below  the  middle  stature,  dolichocephalous,  with 
high  cheekbones,  low  retreating  forehead,  prognathous 
jaws,  while  their  civilisation  and  the  condition  of  their  in- 
dustry were  about  on  a  par  with  those  of  the  troglodytes 
of  Perigord.^ 

Burial  Gave  of  Diiriiiliy  (Basses-Pyrenees).  — ^S^e  are 
indebted  to  MM.  Louis  Lartet  and  Chapelain-Duparc  for 
the  important  discovery,  made  in  1874,  and  for  the  full 

*  M.  Broca  maintains,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  race  of  Solutre 
was  not  prognathous,  that  the  tibias  were  not  platycnemic,  and  that  the 
perforation  of  the  humerus  was  extremely  rare.  It  is  difficult  to  decide 
which  of  these  contradictory  assertions  is  correct.  Unfortunately,  ethno- 
logists are  far  from  being  in  perfect  agreement  witli  regard  to  prehistoric 
races,  and  even  wi  h  regard  to  tliose  now  in  existence. 


CAVE   OF  SAINT-JEAN-D'ALCAS.  139 

descripti(^n  of  a  covenxl  burial  place,  hollowed  in  the  side 
of  a  sort  of  iiumniulitic  proiuoutory,  which  overhan«^s  the 
valleys  of  the  Gave  de  Pan  and  of  the  Gave  d'Oloron. 
This  cave,  formerly  much  deeper  than  it  is  at  the  present 
day,  bears  on  its  walls  traces  of  prolonged  calcination, 
the  natural  effect  of  the  fires  lighted  at  intervals  by  the 
troglodytes  who  inhabited  it. 

There  are  bones  of  the  reindeer,  the  aurochs,  and  the 
horse,  teeth  of  the  lion  and  the  bear  revealing  designs  cut 
with  a  tliut  knife,  barbed  arrow  heads,  bone  fish-hooks 
sinular  to  those  of  Perigord,  and  carved  flints,  some  of 
which  are  very  carefully  wrought ;  and  together  with  these 
a  quantity  of  human  bones  were  found,  whose  ethnical 
character  is,  according  to  ^IM.  Quatrefages  and  Hamy, 
almost  identical  with  that  of  the  oldest  Cro-Magnon  race, 
from  which  that  of  Duruthy  appears  to  be  descended. 
The  distinguishing  feature  of  this  burial  cave  is  that  the 
race  of  which  we  are  speaking,  found  in  the  first  instance 
at  the  base  of  the  hearths  underlying  the  burial  ground,* 
in  company  with  the  bones  of  the  bear,  the  lion,  and  the 
reindeer,  recurs  in  a  grave  placed  above  the  hearths  of  the 
age  of  the  bear,  along  with  weapons  which  seem  to  inau- 
gurate the  age  of  polished  stone,  at  which  epoch  these 
animals  no  longer  existed  in  France. ^ 

Saint- Jean-d'Alcas  and  Baume-des-Morts,  —  The 
grotto  of  Saint-Jean-d'Alcas  (Aveyron),  and  that  of  Durfort 
or  Baume-des-]Morts  (Gard),  both  very  small,-and  both  con- 
taining almost  the  same  funeral  paraphernalia,  are  among 
the  burial  caves  belonging  to  the  latter  part  of  the  age  of 
polished  stone  which  has  been  the  most  thoroughly  in- 
vestigated. jNI.  Cazalis  de  Fondouce  found  in  the  first 
human  bones  and  skulls  of  every  age  and  of  both  sexes ; 
the  second  proved  equally  rich  in  human  remains.  These 
bones  show  no  trace  of  calcination  or  of  cannibalism.  The 
author  of  the  work  on  this  subject  attributes  them,  some- 

'  This  race  was  represented  by  a  single  individual,  whose  crushed 
skull  seems  to  show  that  he  was  killed  by  one  of  the  landslips  which 
occurred  repeatedly  in  the  chalk  overhanging  the  burial  cave. 

2  L.  Lartet  and  Chatclain-Duparc.  Une  scindture  dcs  auckiis  tro- 
glodytes  dcs  PyriiuTs,  Paris,  1874,  p.  6G. 


140  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HU3IAN   RACE. 

what  rashly  as  1  think,  to  one  of  those  races  formerly  so 
much  talked  of,  and  which  he  calls  Celto-Ligurian,  because 
he  considers  them  as  a  mixed  race  descended  from  the 
Ligurians,  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  the  district  of  Larzac, 
and  from  the  Celtic  invaders ;  whereas  the  troglodytes  of 
the  Pyrenees  of  Ariege  of  the  age  of  polished  stone  be- 
long, according  to  him  and  to  M.  Garrigou,  to  the  Celto- 
Iberian  race. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  these  opinions,  insufficiently 
proved  even  in  the  eyes  of  their  supporters,  it  is  at  any 
rate  a  well-established  fact,  that  towards  the  end  of  the 
neolithic  age  the  inhabitants  of  the  Pyrenees  and  of  Gard 
buried  their  dead  in  caves  and  buried  along  with  them  a 
curious  funereal  paraphernalia  of  which  the  following  is  a 
list.  Axes  of  polished  serpentine,  one  in  green  jade,  similar 
to  those  of  the  savages  of  New  Caledonia;  flint  lance 
and  arrow  heads,  skilfully  wrought ;  stones  for  slinging ; 
sections  of  belemnites  and  discs  pierced  for  necklaces, 
similar  to  those  which  are  sometimes  found  in  con- 
siderable numbers  in  the  caves  of  the  age  of  the  reindeer 
and  bear;  ^  long  beads  of  stone  or  of  jet  in  various  shapes  ; 
ear-rings  of  similar  materials,  or  of  living  or  fossil  shells, 
or  even  of  the  perforated  teeth  of  certain  mammalia  (wolf, 
fox,  wild  boar,  &c.).  We  may  also  mention  a  few  orna- 
ments carved  in  bone,  such  as  pendants,  possibly  amulets  ; 
a  little  spindle  made  of  buck-horn  pointed  at  both  ends, 
which  was  probably  used  as  an  arrow  head ;  pieces  of 
blackish  pottery,  not  fire-baked  or  made  on  the  wheel. 
All  these  articles  are  intermixed  with  the  bones  of  animals 
of  still  extant  species  (dog,  fox,  badger,  common  stag,  &c.). 

Lastly,  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  at  Durfort  the 
human  bones  are  for  the  most  part  buried  at  a  considerable 
depth  (twelve  or  thirteen  feet)  in  the  sediment  of  the 
cave ;  these  are  more  scattered  and  less  well  preserved 
than  those  of  the  upper  layers.  The  latter  have  besides 
retained  to  a  certain  extent  their  natural  positions  one 
to  another ;  it  seems  likely  that  they  were  laid  there 
while  still  clothed  in  flesh,  and  that  the  last  comers  took 

'  These  perforated  discs  were  made  from  fragments  of  the  sliell  of 
the  Candium. 


CAVES   OF  LA   MARNE.  141 

the  pbce  of  the  earlier  eorpses,  of  which  the  bones  were 
then  scattered  loosely  in  the  underlying  soil. 

Besides  the  furniture  of  the  tombs,  similar  in  nearly 
all  points  to  that  of  Saint-Jean-d'Alcas,  twenty-five  to 
thirty  beads  and  a  fish-hook  of  red  copper  were  found  at 
Baunie-des-Morts,  with  some  buttons  of  a  calcareous  ala- 
baster, in  the  form  of  a  cone  of  which  the  base,  slightly 
convex,  was  pierced  by  two  holes  through  which  a  thread 
might  be  passed  to  fasten  it  to  the  clothing.  We  shall 
shortly  see  that  the  funeral  accessories  of  the  burial  caves 
of  Languedoc  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  dolmens  of 
southern  France,  which  are  contemporary  with  these  same 
caves. 

Burial  Caves  of  la  Alarne. — The  burial  caves  of  la 
INIarne  have  been  hollowed  out  of  the  chalk  by  the  hand 
of  man  with  flint  implements,  traces  of  which  may  still 
be  seen  upon  the  walls.  In  those  larger  caves  which 
served  as  dwelling-places  before  being  used  as  burying 
grounds,  several  carvings  in  bas-relief  and  some  rude 
pottery  have  been  found.  The  bodies  were  either  com- 
pletely exposed  or  covered  with  a  layer  of  ashes  not  less 
than  a  yard  and  a  half  or  two  yards  deep.  The  former 
were  in  a  horizontal  position,  the  latter  crouching.  A 
certain  number  of  the  bones  were  carbonised  or  calcined. 
These  tombs  belong  to  the  latter  part  of  the  neolithic  age. 

III.  REMARKS  UPON  THE  BURIAL  PLACES  POUND 
IN  THE  CAVES. 

The  full  details  we  have  given  incontestably  show  that 
the  caves  of  all  prehistoric  ages  have  been  used  as  places 
of  burial.  But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose 
that  the  human  bones  found  therein  are  in  all  cases  con- 
temporary with  the  bones  of  animals  associated  with  them. 
Yet  errors  of  this  kind  have  been  committed,  even  by  men 
who  are  justly  considered  as  authorities  upon  this  questiou. 
For  instance,  M.  Ed.  Lartet  honestly  believed  that  the 
man  of  Aurignac  was  coexistent  with  the  cave  bear  and 
the  mammoth  found  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  many 
others  shared  his  opinion. 

With  respect  to  the  cave  of  ITIerm,  '  this,'  says  Dr. 


142  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

Noulet,  '  like  so  many  other  Pyrenean  caves,  was  used  aa 
sepulchres  long  after  the  formidable  carnivora  of  the 
quaternary  epoch  who  had  frequented  them  had  been 
destroyed,  and  when  the  tribes  who  had  consecrated  the 
ground  to  this  pious  use  had  reached  a  relatively  advanced 
stage  of  civilisation,  since  they  were  acquainied  with  the 
art  of  the  potter,  knew  the  use  of  bronze,  and  had  domes- 
ticated those  animals  which  still  render  us  such  valuable 
service.'  ^ 

Evidently,  and  for  similar  reasons,  there  is  no  longer 
any  belief  in  what  has  been  called  the  poetry  of  Aurignac, 
or  in  the  funeral  feast  so  readily  admitted  by  certain 
archaeologists  who  have  made  a  study  of  prehistoric  times. 
Moreover,  when  we  have  assigned  a  more  recent  date  to 
these  tombs,  the  same  correction  brings  nearer  to  our  own 
day  the  greater  part  of  the  human  remains  which  they 
contain,  and  considerably  modifies  our  views  upon  their 
palaeontology,  craniology,  and  ethnology.  The  study  of 
the  graves  erroneously  supposed  to  be  contemporary  with 
the  subjacent  quaternary  stratum  must  therefore,  if  it  is 
still  possible,  be  begun  again.  In  any  case  the  warning  is 
now  given,  and  a  careful  examination  of  the  articles  con- 
tained in  the  caves  is  all  that  is  needed  for  the  avoiding  of 
similar  mistakes  for  the  future.^ 

The  cave  of  Duruthy  furnishes  a  further  proof  of  the 
extreme  care  necessary  to  determine  the  age  of  any  given 
tomb.  Judging  only  from  the  human  bones  found  be- 
neath the  hearths,  it>  appears  to  belong  to  the  epoch  of 
the  cave  bear  ;  ^  whereas  it  should  really  be  attributed  to 

*  Dr.  Noiilet,  Etude  svr  la  car  erne  de  VITerm.  Mem.  do  V  Acad,  des 
ScienccK,  ivxco-ipt.  et  lettrea  de  Toulouse,  vol.  vi.  p,  515,  1874. 

2  The  list  of  these  mistakes,  if  we  are  to  re'y  upon  the  statement  of 
M.  Cartailhac,  is  already  considerable.  It  includes  the  human  bones  of 
Bize  (Tournal),  of  Pondus  and  Sou vign argues  (of  Christol)  ;  of  Cann- 
stadt  even  (J.-iger),  and  of  Mosbach  (Mej'er),  which  are  much  more 
recent  than  was  supposed.  It  is  tlie  same  with  those  of  the  cave  to 
which  M.  Ed.  Dupont  has  given  the  name  of  Trou  du  Frontal  (lielgium), 
and  whose  contents  he  wrongly  likened  to  those  of  the  cave  of  Aurignac. 
Bruniquel,  Cro-Magnon,  and  even  Solutre,  are  open  to  dispute.  These 
are  grave  assertions,  and  should  be  considered  seriously ;  but  in  my 
opinion,  at  least,  the  proofs  are  not  sufficiently  convincing. 

•  At   Durulhy  a  human  skull  was   found,  with  a  number  of    flint 


SOLUTRE.  143 

the  intermediate  epoeli  which  sejiarates  the  reindeer  age 
from  that  of  the  dohnens,  and  in  which  the  fine  carvin<( 
of  the  l]ints  announces  the  near  aj^proach  of  the  age  of 
poHshed  stone. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  funeral  feast  of  which 
M.  Ed.  Dufort  believed  he  had  discovered  the  traces  in  the 
Trou  du  Frontal :  a  mistake  all  the  more  natural  that 
there  are  in  the  burial  caves  a  number  of  hearths,  as  well 
as  the  broken  and  charred  bones  of  animals  in  still  greater 
abundance.  Feasts  and  every  meal  were  then  held  there, 
of  which  the  flesh  of  wild  animals  now  extinct  was  the 
chief  article  of  diet.  But  these  meals  took  place,  these 
fires  were  lighted,  at  a  fiir  earlier  date  than  that  of  the 
funerals,  perhaps  even  by  men  of  another  race  than  those 
whose  remains  are  found  above  the  quaternary  beds. 

Solutre,  however,  forms  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule,  and  it  appear?  difficult  to  reconcile  the  circumstances 
connected  with  this  cave  with  the  law  enunciated  by 
M.  Cartailhac,  who  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  '  every  com- 
plete human  skeleton  found  in  the  caves  may  be  assumed, 
a  priori,  to  be  more  recent  than  the  fluvial  bed  in  which 
it  lies.'  For  in  fact  it  is  proved  that  at  Solutre  many 
human  skeletons,  entire  or  nearly  so,  are  placed  hori- 
zontally upon  the  hearths.  There  is  nothing  to  show 
that  the  overlying  stratum  has  been  disturbed  since  the 
time  at  which  they  were  interred  ;  moreover  this  bed 
contains  no  object  dating  from  the  neolithic  age,  it  con- 
tains on  the  contrary  a  number  of  bones  of  the  reindeer, 
horse,  and  mammoth,  and  a  number  of  articles  of  a  very 
primitive  industry.  It  is  true  that  Solutre  is  not  a  cave, 
but  merely  an  open-air  station. 

For  the  rest,  although  we  ought  to  be  extremely  cau- 
tious in  determining  the  age  of  the  remains  contained  in 
the  burial  crypts,  it  does  not  follow  that  human  remains 

iirplements  and  a  necklace  made  of  teeth  of  the  lion  and  the  bear, 
but  it  lay  in  a  bed  which  had  evidently  been  disturbed,  in  a  tomb 
overlying  a  fossiliferous  stratum.  We  cannot,  therofore,  bo  certain 
that  this  skull  was  the  contemporary  of  the  animals  of  whose  teeth  the 
necklace  was  formed. 


144  THE   ANTIQUITY   OE    THE   HUMAN   EACE. 

of  the  same  date  as  the  bones  of  extinct  animals  found 
along  with  them  never  occur  in  the  burial  caves,  hollow 
rocks,  and  elsewhere.  We  have  already  cited  a  conside- 
rable number  of  examples  ;  but  in  these  various  cases, 
with  a  few  exceptions  (Mentone,  Laugerie  Basse),  the 
human  bones  were  generally  isolated,  few  in  number,  and 
scattered  here  and  there,  like  those  of  other  mammaha 
of  extinct  species  and  their  contemporaries. 

Lastly,  the  human  skeleton  found  entire  by  MM.  Mas- 
senat  and  Cartailhac  under  the  heap  of  rocks  close  to  the 
shelter  of  Laugerie  Basse,  and  that  discovered  at  Mentone 
by  M.  Riviere,  and  which  is  now  in  the  Paris  Museum, 
prove  the  synchronism  of  man  and  the  reindeer  towards 
the  middle  of  the  palaeolithic  age.^ 

There  is  then  nothing  to  show  that  man  did  not  co- 
exist with  the  Ursus  spelceus  in  the  cave  of  I'Herm,  if  it 
be  true,  as  MM.  Rames,  Grarrigou,  and  Filhol  maintain, 
that  the  human  bones  found  by  them  in  this  cave  were 
collected  not  upon  the  surface  of  the  soil,  but  some  in  a 
deep  layer  of  undisturbed  argillaceous  sediment,  the  others 
below  a  thick  crust  of  intact  and  crystalline  stalagmite, 
and  w^ere  in  precisely  the  same  condition  as  those  of  the 
extinct  species  with  which  they  were  found. 

The  tomb  discovered  by  M.  Noulet  (the  vestibule  of 
I'Herm)  is  of  far  more  recent  date,  and  the  cave  of  Herm, 
like  so  many  others,  contains  remains  belonging  to  two 
different  epochs.  As  for  the  caves  of  the  neolithic  age, 
there  is  seldom  any  difficulty  in  assigning  a  date  to 
the  tombs  which  occur  in  them  {e.g.,  Saint-Jean-d'Alcas, 
Durfort). 

IV.    THE   DOLMENS. 

The  traveller  in  the  plains  of  Brittany,  in  the  centre  of 
France,  and  in  the  valleys  of  the  Pyrenees,  encounters, 
>  M.  Eivi&re  at  first  held  that  the  human  skeleton  discovered  by 
him  in  one  of  the  caves  at  Mentone  was  contemporary  with  the  cave 
bear  whose  bones  were  found  in  company  with  it.  But  the  tools  and 
ornaments  which  surrounded  the  skeleton  prove  beyond  dispute  that  it 
belongs  to  a  more  recent  a.2:o,  namely,  that  of  the  reindeer,  although 
this  ariimal  never  inhabited  that  region.  The  cave  of  Mentone  is  then 
one  of  the  many  instances  in  which  the  subsequent  distui-bauce  of  the 
ground  may  lead  to  considerable  mistaken. 


DOLMENS. 


145 


almost  at  every  step,  strange  nioiiumcnts,  generally  con- 
strueted  of  one  or  more  unhewn  stones  of  colossal  size 
placed  horizontally  upon  two,  three,  or  four  upright 
blocks,'  and  sometimes  on  heaps  of  unmortared .  stones, 
the  whole  covered  with  earth,  or  left  exposed.  These  are 
the  dolmens,'^  called  also  covered  alleys,  druidic  altars,  or 
sometimes  giant  tombs.  According  to  the  Baron  de  l^on- 
stetten,  the  word  dolmen  is  formed  from  the  two  Breton 
words  daul  or  dol^  table,  and  men,  stone,  and  signifies 
consequently  stone-table  (see  tig.  42). 


Fig.  42.  SrEci:MEN  of  uncoveukd  ])Ol:mi;n. 


Isolated  upright  stones  may  also  be  observed ;  these 
are  known  as  menhirs  (fig.  43).  The  menhirs  are  enor- 
mous blocks  of  stone,  triangular,  pyramidal,  or  conical,  a 
kind  of  unliewn  or  roughly  squared  obelisk,  sometimes 
occurring  singly,  sometimes  in  groups  or  rows.  In  the 
latter  case  they  are  often  in  considerable  num1:)ers.  The 
famous  stones  of  Carnac  (Morbihan),  extending  nearly  a 

•  Six  and  oven  seven  occur  in  the  dolmens  of  Poitou. 

2  The  words  dolmen,  cromlech,  and  menhir  are  purely  conventional 
words  coined  by  arch;ieolog-ists.  They  are  borrowed  from  the  low- Breton 
patois  or  from  the  Gaelie,  and  signify  sftoic-fablr,  stone-eirrh',  and  hnr/- 
sfone.  But  in  spite  of  tlieir  Keltic  orijrin,  these  terms  are  no  j)roof  that 
these  mejralitliic  monuments,  sometimes  also  styled  Druidic,  are  the 
work  of  the  Kelts  or  Druids. 


146 


THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   HUMAN   EACE. 


mile  in  length,  number  eleven  thousand,  ranged  in  eleven 
rows.  The  size  of  some  of  these  blocks  is  truly  colossal. 
The  conical  menhir  of  Lock-Maria-ker  in  Morbihan,  for 
example,  measures  twenty  yards  in  length,  and  averages 
two  yards  across.  At  Dol,  near  Saint  i\lalo,  the  menhir 
of  Champ-Dolent  rises  thirty  feet  above  the  surface  of  the 


Fig.  43.  Specijien  of  menhir.    That  of  Croisic  (Loire-Infe'rieure). 

soil,  and  extends  below  it  to  a  depth  of  fifteen.  The  dol° 
mens  are  not  peculiar  to  Brittany  ;  they  are  found  in 
other  French  provinces,  and  they  also  occur  in  the  north 
of  Europe,  in  the  whole  of  the  Mediterranean  basin,  and 
even  in  India. 

These  megalithic  monuments  may  be  divided  into  two 


VAIilETIES   OF   DOLMRNS. 


147 


classes.     The  first  iiu'liides  the  exposed  dohiiens,  that  is, 
those  which  are  not  and  have  never  been  covered  with  soil 


Fig.  il.  Hindu  i>oi,mex,  witiiolt  tu."mulus.     (After  Lubbock.) 

(fig.  44).    The  second  class  comprises  those  dolmens  which 


ilo.  46.    D.VM.^ll    Tt.MLLL.--,    .SHOWING    TliK    KNTUANCi:    TO    A    IXiL.MKN 


are  covered  by  a  mound  or  tumulus  often  of  considerable 
size  (usually  more  tlian  thh'ty  feet  high)^  and  consist  of  a 


U3 


THE    ANTIQUITY   OE   THE   HUMAN   RACE. 


burial  vault,  simple  or  divided  into  several  compartments. 
Such  are  the  barrows,  the  Gangyriften  or  galleried  tombs 
of  Sweden  and  Denmark  (figs.  45  and  46),  the  Hilnen- 
grdber,  or  giant  tombs  of  Germany,  &c. 

One  of  the  finest  examples  of  these  burial  vaults,  hidden 
beneath  a  mound  of  earth  and  stones  raised  by  human 
hands,  is  that  of  Gavr'  Innis,  situated  near  Carnac,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  bay  of  Morbihan  (figs.  47  and  48).     The 


Fig.  46.  Tumulus,  with  inner  chamber,  at  Uby  (Dvinmark). 


tumulus  which  covers  this  sepulchre  is  30  feet  high  and 
390  feet  in  circumference.  The  stones  which  line  the  walls 
are  of  a  very  hard  granite,  and  are  carved  in  relief  with 
the  representation  of  three  serpents  and  some  so-called 
Keltic  axes.  Winding  and  parallel,  concentric  or  parabolic 
lines,  zigzags,  semicircles,  and  ellipses  are  also  indicated 
(figs.  49  and  50). 

The   blocks  of  stone  used  in  tlie  construction  of  the 
meofalithic  monuments  are  of  enormous  size.     There  has 


p:>^l^f 


\ 


\- 


,.t^; 


4nW 


''iiiliiiii 


lao 


THE   A^'TIQU1TY   OF  THE   HUMAN   EACE. 


been  much  discussion  as  to  the  means  employed  by  the 
unknown  builders  of  the  dolmens,  who  had  at  their  dis- 
posal but  very  slight  mechanical  aids,  in  moving  and 
placing  in  position  masses  of  stone  of  which  several  are 
not  less  than  twenty-one  feet  long  by  twelve  wide  and 
three  deep,  for  example,  the  dolmen  of  Antiguera,  near 
Malaga,  in  Spain. 


Fig.  49.  SpEci:NncNS  of  drawings  in  tiik  covKitKu  alley  of 
Gavk'  Innis. 

In  many  instances  the  megalithic  tombs  of  Europe 
are  surrounded  by  one  or  more  circles  of  stones  (there  are 
as  many  as  ten  to  those  of  Aveyron),  called  cromlechs 
(fig.  51).  The  dolmens  of  Palestine  and  of  Algeria  also 
present  a  similar  feature. 

Many  arch;cologists  have  maintained  that  these  monu- 
ments are  always  turned  towards  the  same  quarter  of  the 
heavens,  but  this  appears  to  be  a  mistake,  a  preconceived 


BURIAL   IN    DOLMENS.  151 

notion  which  must  be  al)aiul()ne(l ;  for  ]\I.  Cartailliac  lias 
taken  the  bearings  of  the  position  of  more  than  titty  dol- 
mens in  Aveyron,  and  tiuds  that  they  lace  every  way. 
This  is  also  the  case  in  Lozere,  l^rittany,  and  Poitou,  in 
Algeria  and  Palestine. 

The  bodies  of  the  dead  whose   bones  are  found  in  the 
dolmens  were  buried  in  a  sitting  or  crouching  position ; 


Fig.  50    Si'Ecimexs  of  duawings  ix  the  covered  alley  of 
Gavu'  Ixxis. 

bu<-  a  few  of  tliem  have  been  discovered  lying  on  their 
backs  with  the  head  or  feet  turned  towards  Uie'^  east.  A 
number  of  observations  combine  to  show  that  interment 
was  preferred  to  cremation,  but  this  latter  custom  was, 
however,  sometimes  adopted,  for  calcined  bones  are  by  no 
means  rare  in  the  sepulchres,  and  ashes  and  coal  are  also 
found. 


152 


THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE   HUMAN   RACE. 


Besides  the  human  bones,  we  may  mention  among 
the  funereal  contents  of  the  dohnens  serpentine  pendants, 
necklace  beads  of  the  same  substance,  of  slate,  chalk,  ala- 
baster, jet,  amber,  and  of  a  kind  of  turquoise,  and  several 
kinds  of  shells  (cyprcea,  neritina,  erato,  pterocera,  patella, 
dentalkim,  &c.)  used  for  ornament,  and  lastly  discs  made 
from  the  upper  part  of  the  cardium,  and  perforated  for 
stringing.  The  dolmens  and  the  tumuli  also  contain 
funeral  urns,  drinking  cups  (figs.  52  and  53),  and  other 


Fig.  61.  Cro3Ilech,  called  the  altar  of  the  Gkeat  Sakacen. 
(Channel  Isles.) 

vases  of  tolerably  fine  clay,  and  occasionally  elegant, 
though  not  very  varied  in  form.  Lance  and  arrow  heads 
of  various  kinds  of  stone,  and  often  delicately  wrought, 
occur  also,  and  lastly  axes  improperly  styled  Keltic.  It  is 
worthy  of  note  as  a  distinctive  peculiarity,  that  these 
polished  axes  are  comparatively  rare  in  the  dolmens  of 
the  centre  and  south  of  France,  while  a  number  of  mag- 
nificent specimens  have  been  found  in  those  of  Brittany 
and  the  north  of  Europe  (Denmark,  Sweden,  &c.) 

It  was  for  a  long  time  believed  that  the  dolmens  never 


CONTENTS   OF   DOLMENS. 


153 


contained  metallic  objects,  but  tliis  was  a  grave  mistake. 
Kot  to  speak  of  the  bronze  ornaments  found  in  a  dolmen 
in  the  department  of  Lot,  by  M.  Delpon  ;  in  Vivarais  by 
M.  de  Malbos  ;  in  Lozere  by  M.  Lalande  ;  in  Algeria  by 
M.  Bergbrugger,  and  above  all  by  General  P'aidherbe  ; 
M.  Cartailhac  found  in  a  dolmen  of  Aveyron  (that  of 
Boussac),  a  long  bronze  bead,  through  which  was  passed  a 
hempen  thread  preserved  from  decay  by  the  oxide  of  the 
metiil.     Two  other  necklace   beads,  also  of  bronze,  were 


Fio.  52.  Funeral  urx  Forxn  ix  an 
E.NGLisiH  BAKKow.  (After  Lubbock.) 


Fig.  .00.  Drinking  cup  found  in 
AN    English    barrow.     (Alter 

Lubbock.) 


still  united  by  the  connecting  thread  and  by  the  rust 
formed  at  the  point  of  contact.  The  present  Direcienr  des 
Materiaux  also  discovered  in  a  dolmen  a  bronze  pendant, 
similar  in  every  respect  to  an  ornament  forming  part  of 
an  Egyptian  necklace,  to  be  seen  in  one  of  the  glass  cases 
of  the  Louvre  ^luseum.  Lastly,  we  are  also  indebted  to 
j\I.  Cartailhac  for  the  discovery  of  red  andier  in  some  of 
the  dolmens  of  the  departments  of  Gard  and  ANcyron, 


154  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

and  that  of  bronze  bracelets  similar  to  those  of  Algeria. 
Similar  discoveries  have  been  made  in  the  dolmens  of 
Lozere  by  MM.  Prunieres  and  de  Malafosse. 

The  presence  of  pure  copper  has  been  noticed  by  M. 
Cazalis  de  Fondouce  in  certain  dolmens  of  Aveyron,  and 
even  in  the  caves  of  Durfort  and  Saint-Jean-d'Alcas,  which 
are  contemporaneous  with  the  dolmens  of  the  later 
neolithic  period.  According  to  Greneral  Faidherbe,  iron 
abounds  in  the  megalithic  tombs  of  Algeria.  Although 
it  is  much  rarer  in  those  of  France,  it  is  nevertheless 
occasionally  present.  The  people  w^ho  erected  these  monu- 
ments, w^hoever  they  were,  saw  the  dawn  of  those  two 
epochs  to  which  bronze  and  iron  have  given  their  names. 
But  it  is  time  to  consider  what  was  this  people  (if  indeed  it 
has  ever  existed)  by  whom  the  dolmens  were  constructed. 
Far  from  regarding  these  monuments  as  Keltic,  M.  Alfred 
jMaury  believes  them  to  be'  the  work  of  a  people  whom 
the  Kelts  destroyed  or  conquered  as  they  amalgamated 
with  them.  Had  they  been  the  work  of  the  Druids  of 
Gaul,  this  species  of  construction  would  have  been  intro- 
duced wherever  that  people  migrated,  in  Europe,  in  India, 
in  Africa.  Moreover,  it  has  now  been  proved  beyond  all 
doubt  that  the  Druids  lived  at  an  epoch  far  more  recent 
than  that  of  the  megalithic  tombs.  M.  Renan  appears  to 
us  to  be  nearer  the  truth  in  assuming  these  monuments 
to  be  the  work  of  that  primitive  population  which  existed 
in  France  before  the  arrival  of  the  great  Aryan  races. 
But  how  then  shall  we  explain  the  presence  of  the  dol- 
mens in  countries  beyond  Europe,  even  in  America  ? 

Bonstetten,  Bertrand,  and  many  others  have  had  re- 
course to  the  h3rpothesis  of  the  emigrations  of  this  ex- 
tremely problematic  people.  They  have  even  traced  the 
route  followed  by  these  wandering  architects,  but  the 
routes  indicated  by  such  authors  differ  widely  from  each 
other.  They  are  not  even  agreed  as  to  the  direction  of 
the  supposed  emigrations,  whether  from  north  to  south  or 
south  to  north,  and  the  most  contrary  opinions  have  been 
put  forward  on  the  subject. 

According  to  Bonstetten  the  people  of  the  dolmens, 


THE   liUILDEHS   OF    DOLMEN'S.  155 

starting  from  the  coasts  of  Malaliar,  entered  Europe  through 
the  passes  of  the  Caucasus.  Thence  they  spread  them- 
selves along  the  coasts  of  the  Black  Sea  as  far  as  the 
Crimea,  where  they  divided,  one  stream  directing  its  course 
towards  Greece,  Syria,  and  perhaps  Italy  and  Corsica,  the 
other  northward,  sweeping  round  the  Hercynian  forest. 
Later  on  these  wandering  tribes  pene crated  into  Brittany 
and  Normandy,  whence  they  overran  the  British  Isles, 
advanced  towards  the  south  of  Gaul,  crossed  the  Pyrenees, 
and,  traversing  Spain  and  Portugal  obliquely,  crogsing  the 
sea,  they  spread  over  the  northern  coast  of  Africa,  and 
established  themselves  on  the  Eg}^tian  frontier  in  ancient 
Cjrenia.  General  Faidherbe  regards  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic  as  the  starting-poinl:  of  the  dolmen  builders,  and 
Africa  as  their  final  goal.  Worsae  and  Desor  are  of 
opinion  that  the  architects  of  the  dolmens  followed  a 
course  completely  opposed  to  that  indicated  by  General 
P'aidherbe,  that  they  advanced  northwards  from  the  south 
of  Europe ;  an  opinion  which  is  contested  by  M.  Cartail- 
hac,  since  no  bronze  occurs  in  the  dolmens  of  the  north 
of  France,  whereas  this  metal  is  not  very  rare  in  those  of 
the  south. 

It  is  a  question  whether  we  are  to  consider  these 
monuments  as  the  work  of  one  and  the  same  people,  or 
if  we  ought  to  attribute  them  to  various  peoples,  different 
in  race  and  living  at  different  epochs.  On  this  point  also 
the  most  conflicting  opinions  are  held,  and  these  discus- 
sions have  led  to  no  certain  result,  but  they  have  widened 
our  horizon  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  science  of  the 
future. 

Not  content  with  inventing  one  or  more  peoples, 
certain  archaeologists  and  palaL'ontologists  have  described 
in  detail  the  race  or  races  which,  according  to  them, 
were  the  constructors  of  the  dolmens.  M.  de  Quatrefages 
admits  two;  the  one  of  small  stature,  brachycephalous, 
remarkable  for  the  fine  texture  of  its  bones;  the  other 
tall,  dolichocephalous,  with  a  heavy  and  thick  cranium. 
Both  these  are  found  in  the  tombs  of  Borreby  (Denmark) 
General  Faidherbe  represents  the  architects  of  the  African 


156  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   EACE. 

dolmens  as  equal  and  even  superior  in  height  to  the  tallest 
soldiers  of  the  P>ench  army.  '  Their  skulls,'  he  says,  '  are 
elongated,  fine  and  intelligent,  in  a  word,  such  as  might 
belong  to  those  European  races  who  are  most  favoured  in 
this  respect.' ' 

On  the  other  hand,  the  human  bones  found  in  many 
of  the  dolmens  of  France  and  Germany  are  in  no  way 
remarkable  in  point  of  size  ;  they  belonged  to  a  race  about 
the  average  of  our  own  in  height.  Virchow  is  therefore 
justified  in  saying,  speaking  of  the  Hiinengraber  or  giant 
tombs  of  Grermany,  and  we  may  say  the  same  of  the  dol- 
mens and  the  tumuli  of  France,  that  '  the  tombs  alone  are 
gigantic,  and  not  the  bones  they  contain.' 

The  dolmen  builders  appear  to  have  attached  little 
importance  to  agriculture.  They  possessed,  however,  most 
of  our  domestic  animals,  they  could  shape  and  polish 
their  flints  with  much  skill,  and  their  pottery,  manufac- 
tured without  the  help  of  the  wheel,  was  not  without  a 
certain  elegance.  The  arts  of  design  were  little  cultivated, 
but  were  not  entirely  unknown,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
geometrical  figures  which  adorn  their  burial  urns  and 
even  vessels  in  daily  use ;  from  the  two  human  feet  repre- 
sented on  a  dolmen  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Vannes,  and 
by  the  axes  engraved  or  carved  in  strange  groups  on  the 
dolmens  of  Loc-Maria-Ker,  of  Gavr'  Innis,  and  of  Manne- 
er-Hroek  (jNIorbihan).  Leaves  of  the  oak  and  fronds  of 
fern  are  represented  with  these  axes,  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  M.  Faultrier,  might  have  been  sacred  emblems  intended 
to  assure  the  inviolability  of  the  monuments  on  which 
they  were  drawn. 

In  spite  of  the  differences  of  opinion  existing  among 
French  and  foreign  archseologists,  nothing  seemed  better 
established  or  more  generally  adopted  than  the  existence 

*  According  to  the  savant  whom  we  have  just  quoted,  the  ethnical 
characters  of  the  African  dolmenic  race  reappear  among  the  modern 
Berbers  and  Touaregs,  who  are  the  descendants  of  the  Tamahous  or 
Taml.)ous,  the  fair- skinned,  blue-eyed  invaders  who  inhabited  the  shores 
of  Libya  under  the  Ramaeses,  and  whose  type  is  easily  to  be  recognised, 
it  is  said,  in  the  paintings  which  decorate  the  royal  tombs  in  the  famous 
Thebes  with  a  hundred  gates. 


THEIR   EXISTENCE   DISrUTED.  157 

of  a  people  who  inventc^d  such  sin<>-ukr  edifices  as  the 
dohiieiis,  a  people  which  was  formerly  spread  over  almost 
every  part  of  the  habitable  globe.  And  now,  in  spite  of 
all  that  has  been  written  upon  the  subject,  the  reality  of 
this  existence  is  strongly  contested,  and  even  formally 
denied,  by  a  savant  who  has  especially  devoted  himself 
to  the  study  of  prehistoric  man.  As  there  is  a  natural 
transition  from  the  dolmen  containing  a  stone  coffin  to 
the  sarcophagus  formed  of  four  upright  stones  roofed  with 
a  tifth  slab,  so  there  is  the  same  transition  from  the  burial 
cave  to  the  ordinary  dolmen. 

Arguing  from  these  premisses,  M.  de  Mortillet  concludes 
that  the  existence  of  a  people  of  builders  of  the  dolmens  is 
a  pure  hypothesis  ('  Eevue  scientifique,'  August  29,  1874, 
p.  199).  The  author  adduces  the  following  arguments  in 
support  of  this  theory : — 

1.  The  ditferences  presented  by  the  dolmens  of  dif- 
ferent countries,  and  even  of  different  parts  of  France. 
If  they  were  the  work  of  a  single  people  they  would,  on 
the  contrary,  be  very  similar,  if  not  identically  the  same 
in  construction.  Now  in  Brittany  these  monuments  con- 
sist of  sino^le  chambers  which  are  entered  only  through 
long  passages.  Near  Paris  they  are  long,  wide,  covered 
alleys,  with  a  very  short  vestibule.  Finally,  in  the  centre 
and  south  of  France  they  are  merely  rectangular  chests 
formed  of  four  or  five  colossal  stones. 

2.  Whatever  analogies  they  may  present,  the  dolmens 
do  not  stand  alone ;  they  form  part  of  a  great  whole,  they 
are  akin  to  the  burial  cave  of  which  they  are  the  artificial 
imitation,  and  they  are  used  for  the  same  purpose.  This 
imitation  is  practised  by  a  number  of  different  peoples 
who  have  nothing  in  common,  excepting  that  they  had  all 
ceased  to  be  nomadic  and  had  adopted  the  same  rites. 

3.  The  identity  of  these  customs,  to  which  the  dol- 
mens and  the  burial  caves  upon  which  they  were  motielled 
were  devoted,  is  further  proved  by  the  similarity  of  the 
funeral  furniture  of  the  tombs  (for  example,  the  cave  of 
Saint-Jean-d'Alcas  and  the  dolmens  of  Aveyron),  and  even 
by  the  hybrid  character  of  these  caves,  which  in  the  de- 

8 


158  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

partment  of  Var  (caves  of  Cordes  and  Castellet)  partake 
at  once  of  the  character  of  the  dolmen  and  of  the  cave 
hollowed  by  the  hand  of  man  with  a  similar  object  to  pre- 
serve and  do  honour  to  the  bodies  of  the  dead. 

4.  A  further  confirmation  of  the  intimate  connection 
existing  among  the  three  kinds  of  burial  places  (natural 
and  artificial  burial  caves  and  dolmens),  is  the  singular 
practice  adopted  severally  in  each  of  them,  the  custom  of 
removing  a  disc  of  bone  from  the  skull  of  the  dead,  and 
even  of  the  living  subject. 

The  principal  facts  which  lead  M.  de  Mortillet  to  be- 
lieve that  the  dolmens  were  built  by  peoples  differing 
from  each  other,  but  in  no  sense  migratory,  are  the  diver- 
sity in  the  mode  of  construction  of  the  dolmens,  diversity 
of  form  and  proportion  in  the  human  remains  found  in 
them,  and  the  similarity  of  these  remains  in  each  district 
with  those  of  the  palaeolithic  ancestors.  The  similarity 
observed  in  the  contents  of  the  tombs,  whether  dolmens, 
natural  or  artificial  caves,  proves  that  the  former  are,  so  to 
speak,  the  successors  of  the  others,  that  they  were  nearly 
contemporary  with  them  and  were  destined  to  the  same 
purpose.  MM.  de  Quatrefages  and  Broca,  who  formerly 
studied  the  ethnological  character  and  the  migrations  of 
the  supposed  dolmenic  people  or  peoples,  have  now  adopted 
without  reserve  the  opinion  of  their  learned  colleague. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  remarkable  recurrence  of  the  mega- 
lithic  monuments  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe  would  also 
seem  to  sanction  the  opinion  held  since  1869  by  Mr. 
Westropp  and  M.  Bastian.  They  hold  that  this  w4de  diffu- 
sion is  not  due,  as  M.  de  Mortillet  believes,  to  an  instinct 
of  imitation  strengthened  by  necessity,  but  to  a  funda- 
mental psychological  principle,  which  manifests  itself,  as 
it  were  inevitably,  as  soon  as  the  tribe  has  attained  to  a 
certain  degree  of  intellectual  development,  and  is  produced 
everywhere  wdth  certain  modifications  due  to  the  variation 
of  customs,  beliefs,  and  the  materials  employed. 

The  associjition  of  ideas,  the  need  of  giving  to  them  a 
natural  and  sensible  expression,  the  desire  of  perpetuating 
the  memory  of  an  important  event,  such  would  be  the 


THE  SEARCH  U^' PROFIT  ABLE. 


159 


entirely  psychological  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the 
monuments  in  question,  whether  the  obos  of  the  Mongols, 
the  I'argans  of  Siberia,  the  tumuli  of  the  mound-builders, 
or  the  cromlechs,  the  j^eulvans,  the  dolmens,  and  tlie 
menhirs  of  Brittany,  India,  and  Africa. 

But  it  is  a  waste  of  labour  and  unprofitable  to 
science  to  seek  for  a  special  people  of  dolmen  builders,  to 
endeavour  to  trace  its  wanderings,  and  to  determine  its 
ethnical  character,  if  no  such  people  exists,  or  has  ever 
existed.  This  is  the  opinion  of  M.  Bastian  and  Mr. 
Westropp,  founded  upon  considerations  very  similar  to 


Fto.  54.  Pr-Ax  OF  a   gtaxt   tomb        Fio.  .^>5.  Monoliths  of  the  giant 
OK  Sakuixia.     (After  the  Abbate  tombs     of     Sardinia     of     the 

SpaUO.)  EAKLI'ER   EPOCH. 

those  which  influenced  M.  de  Mortillet.  It  does  not  en- 
tirely solve  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  dolmens,  but 
perhaps  it  prepares  the  way  for  a  speedy  and  satisfactory 
solution. 

V.    THE    GIANT   TOMBS  OF    SARDINIA. 

Sepolture  dei  giganti  (tombs  of  the  giants)  is  the 
name  by  which  sepulchres  similar  in  construction  to  the 
nuraghi  near  which  these  tombs  are  invariably  found  (see 
pige  126),  are  still  known  to  the  peasants  of  Sardinia. 
They  resemble  nuraghi  laid  horizontally  (see  figs.  54 
and  56). 


160 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN   EACE. 


They  resemble  a  kind  of  amphitheatre  formed  of  one 
or  two  rows  of  roughly  hewn  blocks  of  stone  (fig.  54). 
In  the  midst  rises  a  tall  conical  shaft,  rudely  shaped 
(figs.  55  and  57),  in  which  a  hole  one  or  two  inches 
square  is  made  about  half  way  between  the  base  and  the 
summit  of  the  cone,  and  another  also  square  or  in  the 


Fig.  5G,  Nurago,  situated  near  a  giaxt  tomb. 
(After  the  Abbate  Spano.) 

form  of  a  half  circle  near  the  top.  Sometimes  the  column 
does  not  consist  of  a  single  stone,  but  is  formed  of  two 
stones  placed  one  above  the  other.  Behind  the  monolith 
lies  the  burial  place,  ten  to  fourteen  yards  long  by  one  or 
two  in  width.  It  is  composed  of  rough  blocks  forming  a 
wall  of  three,  four,  or  six  rows  of  stones  placed  in  steps, 


-^ 


Fig.  57.  Monoliths  of  the  Sardinian  tombs  of  the 
later  epoch. 

sloping  inwards  towards  the  top,  and  roofed  by  great  slabs 
two  or  three  yards  wide.  In  fact  no  better  name  could  be 
found  for  these  tombs  than  that  given  them  by  the  vivid 
imagination  of  the  people,  of  giant  sepulchres. 

The  floor  of  the  sepulchres  is  formed  by  a  layer  of 
small  stones,  above  which  larger  ones,  polygonal  or  unhew^n, 
are  placed.    It  may  therefore  be  presumed  that  the  corpses 


SAEDINIAN  TOMBS.  161 

were  not  covort'd  with  earth,  but  simply  deposit ovi  in  a 
tomb  of  six  feet  or  more  in  depth.  J^ike  the  nuraglii,  near 
which  they  are  always  found,  some  of  these  tombs  (tliose 
constructed  of  unhewn  blocks  of  stone)  seem  to  belong 
to  the  earlier  age  of  stone  ;  others,  composed  of  stones 
more  or  less  rudely  hewn,  and  some  of  superior  masonry, 
date  from  the  neolithic  age,  or  even  from  the  epoch  of 
transition  between  stone  and  bronze.  Most,  if  not  all,  of 
these  tombs,  have  been  repeatedly  ritled  by  treasure 
seekers  at  different  times,  so  that  the  researches  of  the 
Abbate  Spano  have  not  been  very  productive.  He  only 
discovered  in  them  a  few  broken  and  calcined  human  bones, 
which  crumbled  to  dust  at  the  lightest  touch,  and  several 
clay  vases,  of  which  not  a  single  one  was  entire.  But  he 
was  satisfied  that  several  bodies  had  been  buried  together 
in  the  same  tomb,  and  that  these  were  therefore  family 
burial  places.  When  the  death  of  one  of  the  members 
of  the  tribe  occurred,  one  of  the  great  transverse  stones 
which  covered  the  long  alley  built  behind  the  monolith 
was  removed,  and  then  replaced  until  the  time  came  for 
another  body  to  claim  its  place  in  the  tomb.  The  mono- 
lith, called  by  the  Sardinian  peasants  pietra  delV  altare, 
or  altar-stone,  because  they  believe  it  to  have  been  used 
for  human  sacrifice,  always  faces  the  south  or  east.  This 
is  the  case  with  the  entrances  of  all  the  nuraghi.  The 
Abbate  Spano  attributes  the  giant  tombs  of  Sardinia  to 
the  same  epoch  as  the  nuraghi,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  time 
of  the  earliest  immigrations  from  the  East,  but  many  of 
them  are  evidently  of  earlier  date. 


162  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  BACE. 


CHAPTER   VII. 
PREHISTORIC  MAN   IN  AMERICA. 

M.  Albert  Gaudry  and  Mr.  IMarsh  maintain  that  the  vast 
continent  discovered  by  Columbus  is  not  really  as  recent  aa 
it  is  generally  said  and  supposed  to  be,  and  I  am  inclined 
to  be  of  their  opinion.  A  number  of  incontestable  proofs 
justify  this  opinion. 

The  Indian  redskin  living  in  a  state  of  barbarism  at 
the  time  of  the  conquest  cannot  be  called  the  primitive 
American.  Nor  were  the  luxuriant  forests  where  he 
hunted  his  prey  truly  primaeval,  for  they  were  preceded 
by  other  forests,  which  themselves  did  not  deserve  the 
name  of  virgin,  since  they  had  already  been  trodden  by 
the  foot  of  man,  w^hose  remains  lie  buried  beneath  their 
own.  At  New  Orleans,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  an 
entire  human  skeleton  was  found  buried  beneath  four 
ancient  forests.  Dr.  Dowler  attributes  an  age  of  57,000 
years  to  these  remains.  We  cannot  guarantee  the  accuracy 
of  these  figures,  but  if  this  single  fact  were  established 
beyond  dispute,  it  would  in  itself  be  a  sufficient  proof  of 
the  great  antiquity  of  the  human  race  in  America. 

Other  discoveries  of  no  less  weight  corroborate  our 
opinion.  A  pelvis  was  found  near  Natchez  in  the  loess  of 
the  Mississippi  valley,  in  company  with  the  mastodon  «~f 
the  Ohio,  the  megalonyx  of  Jefferson,  and  other  species 
long  since  extinct.  Human  bones  were  extracted  by 
Agassiz  from  a  calcareous  conglomerate  which  forms 
part  of  a  coral  reef  in  Florida,  and  of  which  the 
learned  professor  estimates  the  age  to  be  more  than 
10,000  years.     If  these  proofs  are  not  enough,  we  may 


AGE   OF   TIIK   NKW    WORLD.  163 

mention  in  addition  the  hnnian  remains  found  l)y  Lund 
in  tlie  caves  of  Brazil,  with  those  of  the  (jh/jjtodon,  the 
onegatherium,  and  a  number  of  fossil  animals  with  whom 
man  was  contemporary  ;  and  the  recent  discovery  of  a 
human  skull  picked  up  at  Jacksonville,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Illinois,  100  feet  above  the  present  level  of  the  river, 
and  remarkable,  like  that  of  Neanderthal,  for  the  deep 
grooves  made  by  the  muscles,  and  the  prominence  of  the 
bones  above  the  orbits. 

Lastly,  at  a  depth  of  about  nine  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  soil,  in  the  pampas  of  Mercedes,  near  Buenos  Ayres, 
some  human  bones  were  recently  found  in  company  with 
rudely  carved  flints  and  remains  of  extinct  species  (^Eu- 
tatus,  Hoplophorus^  Reithrodon,  Hesperomys^  &c.).  In 
one  of  the  layers  overlying  the  above  mentioned  one,  bones 
of  the  mylodon  and  of  the  glyptodon  were  also  found.' 

The  products  of  the  industry  of  this  race,  which  may 
really  be  termed  primitive,  resemble  in  almost  every 
respect  those  of  Em'opean  man  in  the  height  of  the  stone 
age ;  only  instead  of  flint,  rare  or  absent  in  certain  dis- 
tricts of  America,  the  Indian  used  granite,  syenite,  jade, 
porphyry,  quartz,  and  especially  obsidian,  a  vitreous  rock 
which  abounds  in  Mexico  and  elsewhere.  Splinters  of 
this  rock,  skilfully  obtained  by  means  of  percussion,  were 
employed  for  the  fabrication  of  knives  sharp  as  razors,  of 
arrow  and  lance  heads,  fish-hooks,  harpoons,  in  a  word  of 
numerous  implements  similar  to  those  used  in  Europe  by 
the  contemporaries  of  the  mammoth  and  the  cave  bear. 
It  is  worthy  of  note,  however,  that  neither  axes  nor  stone 
hammers  pierced  with  a  hole  for  the  handle,  have  hitherto 
been  found  in  America.  Some  of  these  stone  implements 
are  merely  more  or  less  rudely  carved ;  some  are  perfectly 

'  I  am  indebted  for  the  knowledofe  of  this  important  discovery  to 
the  kindness  of  Mr.  Cope  of  Philadelphia,  who  has  done  me  the  honour 
of  sending  to  me,  with  other  extremely  interesting  works  of  which 
he  is  the  author,  a  pamphlet  published  in  Decf-mber,  1878,  in  which 
the  learned  American  palaeontologist  gives,  after  the  drawing  of  Pro- 
fessor Ameghino,  a  section  of  the  stratum  in  which  the  fossil  man  of 
Mercedes  was  found,  and  also  a  list  of  the  extinct  animals  whose  bones 
were  mixed  with  his. 


164  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

polished,  such  as  the  fine  axes  of  green  jade  found  in  the 
country  of  the  Carabees,  which  are  now  in  the  IMuseuni 
of  Antiquities  in  Copenhagen.  Some  of  these  implements 
are  of  very  uncommon  form,  and  we  see  in  these  the  art 
of  shaping  by  percussion  carried  to  a  wonderful  degree  of 
perfection.  Such  are  for  instance  the  flints  of  which  we 
borrow  the  drawings  from  Dr.  Wilson  (^Prehistoric  Man') 
and  of  which  one  is  a  weapon  toothed  like  a  saw,  pointed 


Fig.  58.  Flint  wkapon,  pointed        Fig.  59.  Flint    italbkrt),   tn  the 
at  i50th  knds,  taken  from  a  fokji  of    a   cuescent,   from  a 

CAVE  IN  Honduras.  cave  in  Honduras. 

at  either  end,  and  measuring  more  than  sixteen  inches 
in  length  ;  the  other  is  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  furnished 
with  jutting  points,  and  somewhat  resembling  certain 
halberds  of  modern  date  (tigs.  58  and  59).  These  two 
specimens  of  the  primitive  art  of  the  New  World  were 
found  in  1794  in  a  cave  of  the  Bay  of  Honduras.  But 
the  most  striking  feature  in  the  primitive  weapons  and 
tools  found  in  America  is,  we  repeat,  their  perfect  resem- 
blance with  those  of  the  European  caves ;  they  present  the 


ANTIQUITY   OF  AMERICAN   RACES.  165 

same  forms,  only  a  little  less  varied,  and  served  conse- 
quently the  same  purposes.  The  work  of  man  in  these 
widely  separated  epochs  offers  in  both  worlds  the  most 
perfect  analogy.  We  are  therefore  forced  to  conclude  that 
the  age  of  stone  is  not  the  peculiar  apanage  of  any  one 
people,  but  that  it  represents  a  stage  in  human  culture 
which  at  periods  more  or  less  remote  occurs  in  every  part 
of  the  earth. 

Articles  of  the  toilet  and  ornaments,  and  some  frag- 
ments of  pottery,  evidently  dating  from  the  prehistoric 
epoch,  have  been  found  in  JNIexico  and  other  parts  of  the 
American  continent.  Obsidian  beads,  intended  to  be  sus- 
pended from  the  lips,  pearls,  perforated  teeth  and  shells 
for  necklaces  or  for  ornamenting  the  dress,  clay  buttons 
baked  or  dried  in  the  sun,  round  mirrors  of  pyrites,  &c. 
&e.,  all  of  great  geological  antiquity,  were  also  found  in 
diiferent  parts  of  the  continent,  which  we  persist  in  calling 
the  New  World.  Its  extinct  fauna  and  flora  also  combat 
th:s  theory,  and  the  great  number  of  different  races  scat- 
tered over  the  surface  of  the  same  continent,  and  the  still 
greater  variety  of  dialects  and  languages,  which  number 
more  than  twelve  hundred,  are  proofs  suthcient  to  establish 
and  confirm  our  opinion. 

The  study  of  the  American  monuments  would,  if 
we  could  undertake  it,  furnish  new  proofs  in  favour  of 
the  great  antiquity  of  man  in  the  New  World.  Without 
counting  the  palaces  whose  magnificent  ruins  astonish 
the  traveller,  and  the  cyclopean  constructions,  similar  to 
the  European  monuments  very  incorrectly  styled  Pelasgic, 
the  mounds  of  Ohio  and  Yucatan  furnish  very  valuable 
treasures  of  great  interest  to  archaeology.  Some  details 
respecting  these  mounds,  which  were  intended  for  different 
purposes,  must  find  place  here.  But  we  must  first  say  a 
word  or  two  about  the  Chulpas. 

I.    THE   CHULPAS   OF   PERU  AND   BOLIVIA. 

Burial  places  dating  from  a  period  anterior  to  the 
Incas,  and  resembling  the  dolmens  and  cromlechs  of  the 
European    continent,   and    the    nuraghi  of   Sardinia,  are 


166  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

found  in  Peru  and  Bolivia.  They  are  there  known  under 
the  name  of  Chulpas.  They  are  burial  crypts  built  of 
great  upright  stones,  supporting  the  enormous  slabs  which 
form  the  roof.  Other  chulpas,  of  more  recent  date  than 
the  former,  are  surrounded  by  a  wall  built  in  the  figure 
of  a  square  or  a  circle,  of  which  the  height  varies  from 
30  to  100  feet,  a  species  of  tower,  narrowed  at  the  base 
and  slightly  enlarged  towards  the  summit,  which  is  ter- 
minated by  a  cornice  in  the  case  of  a  square  tower,  and 
by  a  rounded  dome  when  it  is  circular.  The  stones  of 
which  these  monuments  are  built  are  usually  hewn  on 
the  outer  face  of  the  building,  and  are  held  together  by 
means  of  a  stiff  clay.  Other  Peruvian  chulpas,  built  of 
unhewn  stones,  are  plastered  over  with  stucco  and  painted 
both  outside  and  inside. 

As  a  rule  these  tombs  contain  only  one  bm^ial  chamber, 
or  sometimes  two  placed  one  above  the  other,  and  vaulted. 
More  or  less  numerous  niches  in  a  single  or  double  row, 
and  hollowed  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall,  were  destined 
for  the  reception  of  the  dead  bodies,  which  were  placed 
in  a  sitting  or  crouching  position. 

These  monuments,  whether  simple  dolmens,  cromlechs, 
or  burial  towers,  which  are  scattered  over  the  vast  plateau 
of  the  Andes,  are  the  work  of  a  single  people,  who  gra- 
dually improved  with  time;  their  primitive  civilisation 
seems  to  have  passed  through  stages  analogous  to  those 
of  the  builders  of  the  megalithic  monuments  of  the  Old 
World,  which  appear  to  have  served  them  as  models.  This 
strange  people  was  probably  indigenous,  and  held  the  land 
previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  Incas.^ 

II.  THE  MOUNDS  AND  THE  MOUND  BUILDERS. 

We  must  attribute  to  the  prehistoric  ages  of  the  New 
World  a  series  of  strange  monuments,  of  varied  form  and 
gigantic  size,  the  work  of  a  people  of  mysterious  origin 
and  unknown  race,  usually  designated  by  Anglo-American 
^javants   as  mound  builders.     These  mounds,   species  of 

'  For  fuller  details  see  E.  G.  Squier,  TIte  Pi\ineral  Mojivments  of 
Peril,  com])ared  tvUh  those  in  other  parts  of  the  World.  American  Na- 
tv/ralist,  p.  518.     Salem,  1870. 


MOUNDS   AND   THEIR   GUILDERS.  167 

artificiiil  hills,  are  great  earthworks,  often  mixed  with 
stones,  destined,  some  of  them,  to  serve  as  military  de- 
fences or  as  sacred  enclosures ;  others  are  crowned  with 
temples;  others,  again,  were  consecrated  to  the  burial  of 
the  dead  or  to  religious  rites  ;  lastly,  some  served  the 
purpose  of  look-out  posts. 

These  artificial  constructions,  which  at  the  first  glance 
may  easily  be  mistaken  for  natural  hills,  are  scattered  in 
profusion  throughout  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  and  especially 
in  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Scioto,  the  Ohio,  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi. They  are  sometimes  isolated  and  sometimes  they 
occur  in  groups ;  usually  circular  and  occasionally  elliptical 
in  form,  they  sometimes  represent  the  figure  of  animals,  and 
even  of  man,  while  a  few  imitate  the  form  of  inanimate 
objects,  among  which  occur  pipes  of  gigantic  size.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  all  the  geometrical  figures  are 
perfectly  regular,  even  circles  of  1,000  feet  in  diameter, 
and  they  seem  to  have  been  traced  according  to  a  scale  of 
which  the  proportions  were  determined  with  accuracy  and 
faithfully  executed.  The  following  examples  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  give  an  idea  of  their  dimensions. 

According  to  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,  to  whose  mag- 
nificent work  1  we  are  indebted  for  the  following  details, 
some  of  these  artificial  hills  measure  not  less  than  550,000 
cubic  metres,  so  that  it  is  calculated  that  four  of  them 
would  be  greater  in  bulk  than  the  largest  of  the  Pyramids 
of  Egypt,  the  volume  of  which  is  said  to  be  2,000,000 
cubic  metres.  The  truncated  pyramidal  mound  of  Calokios, 
in  Illinois,  measures,  according  to  Lubbock,  700  feet  long 
by  500  feet  wide  and  90  feet  high.  Its  total  volume  is 
estimated  to  be  20,000,000  cubic  feet. 

These  monuments  have  yielded  to  the  researches  of 
archaeologists  treasures  as  valuable  as  they  were  unexpected. 
Their  age  is  unknown  ;  but  many  of  them  date,  it  would 
seem,  from  a  period  anterior  to  the  neolithic  age  of  the 
New  World,  since  they  contain  weapons  of  unpolished 
aphanite,  a  species  of  greenstone,  resembling  in  form  and 

'  Squier  and   Davis,  Anc\nit   H/oinments  of  the  Missi.^ts-ijfjn   Valley. 
Smithsonian  CuntHhutions  to  K/wivlethje,  vol.  i. 


168  THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

workmansliip  the  iiint  axes  and  arrow  heads  of  Abbeville 
and  Amiens.  But  for  the  most  part,  side  by  side  with 
these  rudely  shaped  stone  implements,  others  are  found 
so  well  polished  that  they  will  bear  comparison  in  this 
respect  with  our  most  skilfully  wrought  flints,  a  circum- 
stance which  seems  to  indicate  that  the  archseolithic  and 
neolithic  ages  are  less  distinct  in  America  than  in  Europe. 
This  opinion  is  further  confirmed  by  the  presence  in 
most  of  the  mounds  of  weapons  and  tools  of  pure  copper 
wrought  by  stone  hammers — a  clear  proof  that  at  one 
time  metal  and  stone  were  employed  simultaneously.  We 
refer  our  readers  to  the  work  of  Squier  and  Davis  for 
a  number  of  interesting  details  about  several  kinds  of 
mounds.  We  need  only  say  a  few  words  about  the  sym- 
bolical mounds,  representing  animals,  and  those  known  as 
sacrificial  mounds,  used  at  once  as  tombs  and  as  altars  for 
human  sacrifice. 

Symbolical  Mounds  are  numerous  in  the  State  of 
Wisconsin,  but  rarer  in  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  of 
the  Scioto.  The  characteristic  feature  of  the  sym- 
bolical mounds  is  that  they  represent  almost  exclusively 
the  image  of  man  and  of  certain  animals,  and  sometimes 
gigantic  pipes.  Turning  to  account  the  undulations  of 
the  prairies,  the  prehistoric  architects  of  Wisconsin 
modelled  those  immense  bas-reliefs  which  foithfuUy  re- 
produce the  outlines  of  the  bear,  the  fox,  the  otter,  the 
glutton,  the  elk,  the  buffalo,  the  eagle,  the  tortoise,  the 
lizard,  the  frog,  &c.  Man  himself,  as  we  have  said,  figures 
in  these  strange  groups.  Earthworks  in  the  form  of  a 
cross  or  a  crescent,  and  other  geometrical  figures,  occur 
also,  and  the  battle-axe  is  sometimes  represented. 

Among  the  most  famous  of  the  symbolic  mounds  we 
will  menti(m  two,  which  for  several  reasons  deserve  special 
notice.  The  one  situated  in  the  Mississippi  valley  bears 
the  name  of  Alligator  Mound ;  the  other,  known  as  the 
Great  Serpent  Mound,  occupies  the  extreme  point  of  a 
tongue  of  land  formed  at  the  junction  of  two  rivers  which 
flow  into  the  Ohio.  The  first  of  these  animals,  designed 
with  considerable  skill,  is  no  less  than   250  feet  in  length 


SYIMBOLIC    A.ND   FUNEKAL  MOUNDS.  1()9 

from  the  tip  of  the  nose  to  the  extremity  of  the  tail.  Ex- 
cavations made  in  various  parts  of  the  figure  sliow  that 
the  interior  is  formed  of  a  heap  of  stones,  over  which  tlie 
f  )rm  has  been  moulded  in  tine,  stiff  chiy.  The  Great 
!Ser})ent  is  represented  with  open  mouth,  in  the  act  of 
swallowing  an  t^gg  of  which  the  diameter  is  100  feet  in 
the  thickest  part;  the  body  of  the  animal  is  wound  it) 
graceful  curves,  and  the  tail  is  rolled  into  a  spiral.  The 
entire  length  of  the  animal  is  1,000  feet.  This  work  is 
unit  pie  in  the  New  World,  and  there  is  nothing  on  the 
old  continent  which  offers  any  analogy  to  it.  It  has 
given  rise  to  a  number  of  absurd  theories,  not  only  on 
the  part  of  the  present  savage  inhabitants  of  America, 
who  believe  this  symbolic  serpent  to  be  the  work  of  the 
great  JNIanitou,  but  also  among  modern  savants,  who  con- 
sider the  symbol  to  be  akin  to,  or  even  the  parent  of, 
certain  superstitions  which  reign  in  Egypt,  in  Assyria, 
and  in  Greece,  and  of  which  the  traces  still  remain  upon 
the  temples  of  India,  of  Central  America,  and  even  upon 
the  megalithic  monuments  of  Avebury  and  of  Carnac. 

Funeral  Mounds. — The  dimensions  of  these  mounds 
seem  to  bear  an  exact  proportion  to  the  rank  of  the  indi- 
vidual whose  remains  they  cover.  Each  contains  one  or 
more  chambers,  the  roof  being  supported  by  enormous 
beams,  covered  by  the  earth  and  stones  which  form  the 
tumulus.  The  body  usually  reposes  in  a  sarcophagus, 
of  which  the  sides  are  formed  of  rudely  squared  logs  of 
wood,  and  the  bottom  consists  of  thin  planks,  which  time 
has  decaved,  and  their  dust  is  mingled  with  that  of  human 
bones.  The  latter  are  so  fragile  that  they  break  and 
crumble  to  dust  at  the  slightest  touch.  The  sarcophagus 
is  sometimes  made  of  unhewn  stones  placed  upright,  and 
the  body  is  enveloped  in  a  shroud  of  bark,  or  covered 
with  plaques  of  mica.  Bone  necklaces,  consisting  of 
one  or  two  rows,  tools,  stone  or  pure  copper  urns,  and 
perforated  discs  of  this  metal,  form  the  principal  contents 
of  the  tomb.  They  generally  lie  among  ashes,  charcoal, 
and  half-charred  bones — a  certain  proof  that  cremation  as 
well  as  interment  was  practised  by  the  mound  builders, 


170  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE   HUMAN  EACE. 

and  that  they  sacrificed  human  victims  on  the  tombs  of 
their  chiefs,  a  custom,  moreover,  which  at  a  later  period 
was  common  among  the  JNIexican  Aztecs,  and  among  the 
Peruvians  of  the  time  of  the  Incas. 

Lewis  Morgan  found  some  blades  of  flint  ranged  side 
by  side  like  teeth  over  a  space  of  about  two  feet  in  length, 
in  an  Iroquois  mound.  He  supposes,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
agree  with  him,  that  these  flint  knives  had  been  originally 
fixed  with  bitumen  and  fine  cord  in  a  groove  made  in  the 
edges  of  a  sword-shaped  piece  of  wood.  We  cannot  fail 
to  see  that  this  description  answers  exactly  to  that  of 
the  magahuitl  or  primitive  sword  of  the  early  inhabitants 
of  Mexico  and  Yucatan.  The  ancient  Mexicans,  however, 
instead  of  arming  the  wooden  sword  with  flint  teeth, 
used  blades  of  obsidian  (itzli)  as  sharp  as  razors,  which 
made  it  a  terrible  weapon  of  war.  (See  Dr.  Wilson,  '  Pre- 
historic Man.') 

Sacrificial  Mounds  and  Altars. — Certain  mounds 
are  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  special  features  which 
leave  not  the  smallest  doubt  as  to  their  original  destina- 
tion. The  mounds  in  question  are  nearly  always  found 
within  the  sacred  enclosures  ;  they  aie  built  up  of  alternate 
layers  of  gravel,  mould,  sand,  and  slices  of  mica,  and  they 
usually  cover  an  altar  of  stone  or  baked  clay,  hollowed 
into  the  form  of  a  basin,  on  which  were  deposited  offer 
ings  of  various  kinds,  nearly  all  bearing  the  traces  of  the 
prolonged  action  of  fire. 

Obsidian  knives,  thin  slices  of  mica  cut  into  graceful 
curves  or  geometrical  figures,  others  thicker,  round  or 
oval  in  shape  and  perforated  for  stringing  ;  necklaces  made 
of  beads  and  pierced  teeth,  and  even  of  silver  ;  ear-rings  and 
armlets  of  finely  polished  bloodstone  ;  pendants  and  other 
badges  of  distinction  of  different  shapes  and  materials,  and 
beautifully  wrought ;  lance  and  arrow  heads  made  of  quartz, 
obsidian,  flint,  and  even  of  manganesian  garnet ;  imple- 
ments of  pure  copper ;  bone  and  ivory  needles  ;  fine  and 
rude  pottery;  carved  stones  and  pipes,  sometimes  orna- 
mented with  beads  ;  the  whole  intermixed  with  a  quantity 
of  ashes,  charcoal,  calcined  shells,  human  bones  broken  and 


CO^'T£NTS   OF  MOUNDS   AND   ALTAES.  171 

half  consumed,  and  the  remains  of  garments  completely 
carbonised,  in  which  the  web  of  the  tissue  is  still  distin- 
guishable ;  such  are  the  usual  contents  of  the  basin- 
shaped  altars  in  use  among  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 
the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the  jNIississippi.  Sometimes 
the  sheets  of  mica,  so  common  in  the  tombs  and  the  sacred 
basins,  are  circular  and  overlap  each  other  like  the  scales 
of  a  fish,  and  represent  together  the  figure  of  a  crescent. 
Hence  it  has  been  somewhat  rashly  assumed  that  the 
mound  builders  worshipped  the  moon. 

Another  and  probably  truer  conclusion  is  that  the 
pipes  carved  in  stone  which  are  found  in  quantities  upon 
the  altars,  even  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  offerings,  are  a 
proof  of  the  use  of  tobacco  in  religious  ceremonies  from 


Stone  pipe  from  Elliott's  Mounb  in  Ohio. 


the  time  of  the  mound  builders.  They  imagined  that  the 
scent  of  this  narcotic  plant  was  agreeable  to  the  Great 
Spirit :  they  smoked  its  leaves  in  his  honour.  The  pipe 
was  the  censer,  and  the  smoke  the  incense.  Some  of 
these  pipes  are  of  soft  stone  (steatite,  chlorite,  clayey 
schist,  ferruginous  sandstone,  calcareous  stones),  the  others 
of  clay.  They  vary  considerably  in  size  and  form.  They 
represent  for  the  most  part  the  figures  of  animals,  especi- 
ally birds,  often  also  that  of  man  more  or  less  caricatured 
(fig.  60).  Some  of  them  have  a  tube  connected  with  the 
bowl  of  the  pipe,  others  are  without  it ;  and  the  opening 
destined  for  the  passage  of  the  smoke  is  so  narrow  that  a 
straw  or  very  fine  tube  can  with  difficulty  be  introduced 


172 


THE  ANTIQUITY   OP   THE   HUMAN   EACE. 


into  it.  The  larger  and  more  ornamented  ones  have 
received  the  name  of  calu'inet-pipes,  and  were  probably 
employed  on  solemn  occasions  and  in  great  religious  cere- 
monies.    Lastly,  there  are  the  poy'trait  plpjes  (fig.  61),  or 


Fig.  61.  Specimen  of  poktrait  pipe  from  the  mounds. 

what  are  supposed  to  be  such ;  for  we  may  assume  that 
the  fidelity  and  even  the  talent  with  which  the  artists  of 
prehistoric  times  have  reproduced  the  animals  they  saw 
around  them,  are  a  guarantee  for  the  accuracy  of  the 


I'iG.  62.  PiPM  OF  TiiK  Chippewa Ys. 


representation  of  the  features  of  their  contemporaries, 
when  they  did  not  wish,  as  is  often  the  case,  to  make  gro- 
tesque caricatures,  placing  human  heads  upon  the  bodies 
of  animals. 


RACIAL   OPxTGIN   OF  MOUND   GUILDERS.  173 

Tlnis,  by  a  strange  chance,  the  pipes  found  in  tlie 
mounds  and  upon  the  s.icriticial  altars  give  us  ;it  once 
an  idea  of  the  fauna  known  to  the  mound  builders,' 
numerous  specimens  of  an  art  since  practised  ujxm  a 
smaller  scale  and  perhaps  with  less  originality  (Mg.  ()2), 
and  lastly  a  probably  faithful  representation  of  their  racial 
type. 

But  the  pipe-portraits,  and  even  the  two  or  three 
skulls  found  in  the  mounds,  do  not  furnish  sufficient  data 


Figs.  63.  G4.  Skull  taken  fkom  a  mound  in  tiik  Scioto  valley. 

PKt>FILK    and    BUtI)'s-EYE    VIEWS. 

to  enable  us  to  determine  the  race  of  the  mound  builders. 
The  nearly  perfect  skull  of  the  valley  of  Scioto  (figs.  63 

'  Among  the  animals  which  the  pipes  represent,  the  following  are 
the  most  common  : — The  sea  cow,  the  wolf,  the  bear,  the  otter,  the 
panther,  the  wild  cat,  the  racoon,  the  beaver,  the  sciiiirrel,  tlie  eagle, 
the  owl,  the  falcon,  the  heron,  tlie  parrot,  the  crow,  the  duck,  the  rattle- 
snake, the  frog,  the  toad,  the  tortoise,  and  the  alligator.  All  these 
animals,  with  the  exception  of  the  sea  cow,  belong  to  the  faima  of 
North  America,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  the  carved  pipes  of  wliich 
we  are  speaking  were  manufactured  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  especially 
in  the  district  called  Mound  City,  because  of  tlie  great  number  of 
tombs  wliich  occur  there.  (See  S(|uier  and  Davis,  Anrioit  Moiiiimciifti  of 
the  Mhxiiiifijtpi  VaUi-ij.  Switlixoninn  ('out rihiif ions  to  Knon'Jcihjc,  vol.  i.  ; 
and  Kau,  The  AiclKz-obK/inil  I'olliction  of  the  i'uitid  States  Xational 
Mmruin.     Wa.shington,  187G.) 


174  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF   THE   HUMAN   EACE. 

and  64)  offers  the  following  characters.  The  vertical 
height  is  considerable ;  diameter  from  the  forehead  to  the 
back  is  small;  great  width  between  the  parietal  bones, 
considerable  depression  of  the  occiput,  forehead  high  and 
arched ;  prominent  cheekbones,  wide  face,  prominent 
nose,  and  heavy  and  powerfully  developed  jaws.  It  must 
remain  doubtful  whether  this  almost  unique  skull  is,  as 
Morton  affirms,  the  perfect  type  of  the  conformation  of 
the  cranium  common  to  all  the  tribes,  ancient  or  modern, 
which  have  dwelt  or  still  dwell  upon  American  soil.  As 
the  native  savages  answer  when  the  Anglo-American 
archaeologists  question  them  upon  the  history  of  the  re- 
mote past,  Quien  sabe, '  who  knows '  ?  However,  Schoolcraft 
assures  us  that  the  mound  builders  were  no  other  than 
the  AUeghanians,  that  is,  the  Indian  tribe  earliest  estab- 
lished in  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi.  But 
it  is  certain  that  previous  to  their  coming  other  populations 
had  lived  in  America,  that  here,  as  in  Europe,  man  was 
the  contemporary  of  species  long  since  extinct,  and  there- 
fore that  here  also  his  existence  dates  from  geological 
epochs. 


175 


CHAPTEE    VIII. 
MAN  OF  THE  TERTIARY  EPOCH. 

The  Human  Bones  of  the  Volcano  of  la  Denise,~The 
Striated  Bones  of  the  Elephant  of  Saint  Brest. — The 
Meiocene  Flints  of  Thenay. 

\sE  have  hitherto  concerned  ourselves  solely  with  the 
quaternary  strata  in  our  search  for  proofs  of  the  great 
antiquity  of  the  human  race.  The  tertiary  rocks  will  in 
their  turn  show  unmistakeable  traces  of  the  appearance 
of  man  upon  the  earth  as  early  as  the  meiocene  and  plei- 
ocene  epochs,  indications  which  although  vague  are  never- 
theless worthy  of  the  most  serious  consideration. 

In  1844,  M.  Aymard,  a  distinguished  naturalist  of 
Auvergne,  announced  the  discovery  of  some  human  re- 
mains in  a  volcanic  breccia  of  the  mountain  of  la  Denise ; 
on  the  other  slope  of  the  mountain,  in  a  breccia  very 
similar  to  the  preceding,  M.  Aymard  found  bones  of  the 
great  mammalia — the  elephant,  rhinoceros,  stag,  horse,  &c., 
of  extinct  species,  and  even  of  one  extinct  genus,  the 
mastodon.  Hence  he  concludes  that  man  was  their  con- 
temporary. This  conclusion  was  rejected  by  the  geolo- 
gists of  that  epoch,  notably  by  M.  Pomel,  who  became 
afterwards  convinced  of  the  co-existence  of  our  race  in 
Auvergne,  not  with  the  mastodons  whose  remains  are  here 
found  for  the  first  time  in  company  with  those  of  animals 
of  the  quaternary  epoch,  but  only  with  the  reindeer  and 
Elejjhas  pvhnirjenius.  He  believes,  moreover,  that  the 
man  of  la  Denise  witnessed  the  latest  cataclysm  which 
modified  the  surface  of  the  globe. 


176  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 

The  authenticity  of  the  human  bones  found  near  la 
Puy  was  at  first  contested ;  but  it  has  been  established, 
since  1859,  by  Ed.  Lartet,  Albert  Gaudry,  and  Lyell, 
and  previously,  by  the  members  of  the  scientific  congress 
assembled  at  Puy  in  1856. 

The  age  alone,  whether  pleiocene  or  only  quaternary, 
of  the  volcanic  tutf  whence  the  bones  of  the  man,  or  rather 
of  the  two  men  (the  one  a  youth,  the  other  an  adult), 
of  la  Denise  were  taken,  has  given  rise  to  differences  of 
opinion  among  geologists,  some  of  whom  maintain  that 
these  bones  were  contemporary  with  the  Elephas  meri- 
dionalis,  and  even  with  the  mastodon ;  while  others  attri- 
bute them  to  the  epoch  of  the  reindeer  and  mammoth. 

Many  people  still  remember  the  great  sensation  created 
in  the  scientific  world  by  M.  Desnoyers,  when,  on  June  8^ 
1^63,  he  made  known  to  the  Institute  of  France  his  dis- 
covery of  traces  in  the  undisturbed  pleiocene  sands  of  Saint 
Prest,  near  Chartres,  proving  the  co-existence  of  man  and 
the  Elephas  meridional  is, ^  the  Rhinoceros  leptorhinus, 
and  other  extinct  mammalia  of  the  upper  tertiary  strata. 
These  traces  were  incisions  and  scratches  varying  in  form 
and  length,  which  M.  Desnoyers  had  seen  upon  the  bones 
of  these  animals,  and  which  he  attributed  to  the  action 
of  a  race  of  men  still  more  ancient  than  those  of  the 
caves  inhabited  by  the  bear,  and  who,  like  the  latter, 
possessed  only  rudely  carved  flints  for  weapons  and  tools. 

The  author  of  this  communication  believed  he  might 
conclude,  from  the  facts  he  had  observed,  if  not  with 
certainty,  at  least  with  a  great  appearance  of  probability, 
that  '  man  lived  upon  the  soil  of  France  at  the  same  time 
as  the  Elephas  meridionalis  and  the  other  pleiocene 
species  which  characterise  the  valley  of  the  Arno  in 
Tuscany;  that  he  strove  for  existence  with  those  great 

'  Palaeontologists  distinguish  three  principal  species  of  elephants : 
1st,  the  Elephas  vieHdionalu,  which  has  been  foiind  at  Chartres,  and  ia 
therefore  in  no  sense  southern  ;  2nd,  the  Elephas  antiquus,  which,  in 
spite  of  the  name  it  bears,  is  less  ancient  than  the  preceding;  Brd, 
the  Elephas prinin/enins,  the  most  recent  of  the  three.  We  have  here 
a  strikinc;:  example  of  the  iuconveuience  of  too  siguiticaut  names  in 
natural  history. 


MIOCENE  FLINTS.  177 

animals  prior  to  the  elephas  jyviini genius,  and  to  the 
other  mammalia  whose  remains  are  found  in  company 
with  the  vestiges  of  man  in  the  transported  or  quaternary 
beds  of  the  great  valleys  or  of  the  caves ;  lastly,  that  the 
deposit  of  Saint  Prest  is,  as  far  as  we  yet  know,  the  earliest 
example  in  the  geological  period  at  which  man  co-existed 
in  Europe  with  extinct  speciesJ 

These  bold  but  logical  conclusions  were  received,  as 
might  have  been  expected,  with  considerable  caution,  even 
by  the  members  of  the  Institute.  An  odious  calumny, 
soon  condemned  by  public  opinion,  attempted  to  annul  or 
to  destroy  the  importance  of  the  discovery  given  to  the 
world  by  M.  Desnoyers.  On  the  other  hand,  M.  Ed.  Lartet 
gave  it  the  modest  and  loyal  support  of  his  testimony  and 
authority. 

Sceptical  men  of  science  demanded,  however,  the  pro- 
duction, if  possible,  of  stronger  proofs  in  support  of  so 
momentous  an  assertion  as  that  of  the  contemporaneity 
of  man  and  pleiocene  species. 

Another  discovery,  equally  unlooked  for,  soon  excited 
in  the  scientific  world  an  interest  equal  to  that  created  by 
the  communication  made  by  M.  Desnoyers  to  the  Academy, 
namely,  that  of  the  carved  flints  (arrow  heads  and  scrapers) 
found  beneath  the  meiocene  deposits  of  Thenay,  in  the 
department  of  Loir-et-Cher.  However  extraordinary  and 
unexpected  this  new  discovery  might  appear,  the  Abbe 
Bourgeois  asserted  it  as  a  fact  without  the  smallest  hesi- 
tation before  the  Prehistoric  Congress  assembled  at  Paris 
in  1867.  'The  presence  of  carved  flints  at  the  bottom  of 
the  chalk  in  Beauce,'  says  the  learned  abbe,  'is  a  re- 
markable iiict,  and  hitherto  without  precedent ;  but  it  is 
in  my  opinion  authentic  and  of  great  importance.'  He  even 
attempts  to  trace,  by  means  of  data  collected  on  the  spot, 
the  order  of  the  appearance  of  the  various  species  which 
succeeded  each  other  in  Beauce  and  Orleanais  after  the 

'  J.  Desnoyers,  Sur  lea  indices  viatrriels  de  la  coexistmce  de  VJmmme 
arcc  Vclcphas  mcj'^idionalis  dans  uii  terrain  drs  environs  de  C/u/rtrrs  plus 
aucicn  que  les  tcrraivs  de  transport  quotcrnaires  des  raUfes  de  la  Sonune 
et  de  la  Saonc.     (^Comjjtes-re?idus  de  I'Listitut,  8  juin  18G3.) 


178  THE  ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMA^  RACE. 

date  of  the  flints  found  below  the  meiocene  beds  in  these 
districts.  '  On  the  shores  of  the  lake  of  Beauce,'  he  says, 
'man  lived  in  the  midst  of  a  fauna  which  completely 
disappeared  {aceratherium,  tapir,  mastodon).  With  the 
fluviatile  sands  of  Orleanais  came  the  anthropomorphous 
monkey  (pliopithecus antique s\the  dinotherium  Cuvieri, 
the  mastodon  angustidens,  the  mastodon  tapinoides,  the 
mastodon  Pyrenaicus,  &c.  These  species,  which  probably 
persisted  during  the  epoch  of  the  shell  deposits,  then  made 
way  for  the  quaternary  fauna  which  I  found  near  there  in 
the  breccia  of  Villiers  (rhinoceros  tichorhinus,  hycena 
spelcea,  felis  spelcea).  Lastly,  it  was  succeeded  by  the 
contemporary  fauna.'  ^ 

In  spite  of  these  distinct  assertions  of  the  learned 
abbe,  his  meiocene  flints  inspired  in  Paris  and  elsewhere 
an  almost  universal  distrust,  and  they  met  with  no  better 
reception  at  the  Prehistoric  Congress  held  at  Brussels  in 
1872.  While  Worsae,  Englehardt,  Waldemar,  Schmidt, 
Capellini,  De  Quatrefages,  De  Mortillet,  Hamy,  and  Car- 
tailhac  are  inclined  to  see  upon  some  of  them  the  traces 
of  human  handiwork,  Steenstrup,  Virchow,  and  Desor 
cannot  recognise  upon  these  stones  the  indication  of  any 
work  whatsoever.  Van  Beneden  declares  that  he  can  come 
to  no  decision,  and  Hebert  absolutely  denies  all  belief  in 
them. 

On  the  other  hand,  M.  de  Mortillet  says :  '  The  flints 
of  Thenay  bear  unmistakeable  trace  of  the  work  of  human 
hands.  .  .  .  And,  moreover,  the  specimens  bear  in  them- 
selves the  seal  which  denotes  their  origin  and  their 
authenticity.  They  are  made  of  a  species  of  flint  totally 
different  to  that  found  on  the  surface.  It  is  impossible 
to  confound  them.  Besides,  as  I  have  already  said,  the 
means  employed  in  shaping  them  were  entirely  different. 
Hitherto  we  have  only  been  acquainted  with  the  mode  of 
chipping  them  by  blows  ;  those  of  Thenay  were  splintered 
by  fire.     This  is  a  well-marked  and  characteristic  indus- 

'  In  Italjs  Professor  Capellini  drew  the  same  conehisions  from 
incisions  which  he  believed  to  be  intentional  on  the  bones  of  pleioceiie 
Cetai.     But  the  nature  of  these  incisions  is  strongly  disputed. 


PROBLEM   OF  TERTIARY   MAX.  179 

trial  distinction  which  denotes  a  widely  different  pre- 
historic epoch,  more  ancient  than  the  qnaternary,  since 
in  the  latter  period  percussion  was  universally  and  exclu- 
sively employed.  (G.  de  Mortillet, '  Promenades  au  musee 
de  Saint-Germain,'  p.  76.) 

This  is  all  very  well,  but  here  we  meet  with  a  slight 
difficulty.  Who  kindled  the  fire  which  served  to  splinter 
the  flints  ?  Was  it  man  himself,  or  the  lightning  from 
heaven  ?  And  in  either  case  where  are  the  cinders  and 
the  ashes  ? 

While  allowing  the  authenticity  of  the  splinters  of 
flint  found  by  the  Abbe  Bourgeois,  M.  Albert  Gaudry 
does  not  admit  the  existence  of  man  during  the  meiocene 
epoch,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  facts  on  which 
he  grounds  his  opinion  have  considerable  weight.  '  There 
was  not,'  he  says,  '  in  the  middle  of  the  meiocene  epoch  a 
single  species  of  mammal  identical  with  species  now 
extant.  Considering  the  question  merely  from  a  palseon- 
tological  point  of  view,  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
flint  carvers  of  Thenay  remained  uninfluenced  by  this 
universal  change.'  ^  The  eminent  professor  alludes  here 
to  the  modifications  which  have,  since  the  above-mentioned 
epoch  (mean  meiocene),  taken  place  in  the  successive  fauna 
and  in  the  geological  phenomena. 

'  After  the  fauna  of  the  chalk  beds  of  Beauce  and  of 
the  shell  deposits,  came  that  of  the  upper  meiocene  beds 
of  Eppelsheim,  of  Pikermi,  and  of  Liberon,  which  differs 
from  it.  The  fauna  of  the  lower  pleiocene  of  Montpellier, 
that  of  the  pleiocene  of  Perrier,  of  Solilhac,  of  Coupet, 
succeeded  that  of  the  upper  meiocene  beds.  Afterwards 
followed  the  epoch  of  the  forest  beds  of  Cromer,  succeeded 
in  its  turn  by  the  glacial  epoch  of  the  boulder  clay,  which 
endured  a  long  time,  to  judge  from  the  Norfolk  deposits  ; 
the  epoch  of  the  boulder  clay  was  followed  by  that  of  the 
diluvium  ;  then  came  the  reindeer  age ;  and,  lastly,  the 
present  geological  age.'     (Albert  Gaudry,  p.  240.) 

We   very  well  understand   ^I.   Gaudry's  disbelief  in 

•  Albert  Gandry,  Les  encTialnements  du  monde  animal  dan*  les  tetnj)^ 
geoloy 'lilies,  p.  210,  Paris,  1878. 


180  THE   ANTIQUITY  OF  THE  HUMAN   RACE. 

man  of  the  meiocene  age,  since  we  are  not  ourselves 
entirely  convinced  on  this  head  ;  but  he  will  doubtless 
permit  us  to  differ  from  his  opinion  that  the  famous 
Thenay  flints  were  carved  by  the  dryojpithecus. 

The  question  of  tertiary  man  (meiocene  or  pleiocene) 
is  not  as  yet  completely  solved  :  '  Adhuc  sub  judice  lis  est ; ' 
but  in  my  opinion  there  is  nothing  impossible  in  this  hypo- 
thesis. Since  two  anthropomorphous  monkeys  (plioiyithe- 
ens  antiquus  and  dryopithecus  fontani)  could  live,  the 
one  at  Sansan  in  the  department  of  Grers,  the  other  at 
Saint  Gaudens  in  Haute  Garonne,  as  early  as  the  meiocene 
epoch,  I  do  not  see  that  there  is  sufficient  reason  for 
denying  the  existence  of  man  during  this  same  epoch 
either  in  Beauce  or  Orleanais  or  in  Languedoc.  But  in 
such  questions  proof  by  analogy  cannot  supply  the  place 
of  direct  proof,  and  the  latter  is  not  hitherto  forthcoming. 


181 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   GREAT  ANTIQUITY  OF  MAN. 

All  nations  have  an  innate  tendency  to  attribute  to  theii 
race  a  great  antiquity.  Thus  the  Arcadians  styled  them- 
selves more  ancient  than  the  moon,  irpocrsXrjvoi,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Attica  boasted  that  they  were  created  before 
the  sun.' 

The  idea  that  the  human  race  had  giant  ancestors  is 
also  widely  spread.  The  bones  of  the  mammoth  and 
mastodon,  long  mistaken  for  human  remains,  seemed  to 
confirm  this  most  erroneous  opinion.  A  still  greater,  and 
more  deplorable  error  was  the  attributing  these  bones  to 
saints,  and  as  such  they  were  paraded  with  great  pomp 
through  the  towns  and  in  the  country  as  late  as  1789,  in 
the  hope  of  thereby  obtaining  rain  from  heaven  in  years 
of  prolonged  drought. 

Everyone  knows  the  audacious  imposition  practised 
by  a  certain  Mazoyer  upon  his  contemporaries,  including 
Louis  XIII.  of  France.  He  pretended  that  the  bones  of 
a  mastodon,  found  in  1613  near  the  chateau  of  Chaumont 
in  Dauphine  were  the  remains  of  the  giant  Teutobochus, 
king  of  the  Cimbri,  who  after  having  invaded  Gaul,  were 
conquered  by  Marius  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Aix  in 
Provence. 

All  the  science  and  discernment  of  Cuvier  were  needed 
to  show  in  the  clearest  way  that  the  pretended  homo 
diluvii  testis  of  Scheuchzer,  found  in  1725  in  the  clayey 

•  Ante  Jovem  gfcnitura  terras  hnbuisse  feruntur 
Arcades,  et  luna  gens  prior  ilia  fuit. 

Ovid,  Fasti,  ii.  vv.  289-21)0. 

9 


182  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

schist  of  QEningen  in  eastern  Switzerland  was  nothing 
but  a  gigantic  salamander.^  It  is  hardly  worth  while  to 
mention  the  petrified  horseman  of  the  forest  of  Fontaine- 
bleau  which  led  astray  the  imagination  of  lovers  of  the 
marvellous  rather  than  of  the  truth. 

The  great  antiquity  of  the  human  race  is  at  the 
present  day  established  beyond  dispute  by  proofs  of  a  less 
doubtful  character ;  we  may  even  say  that  there  is  a  super- 
fluity of  such  proofs.  Not  to  mention  the  well-known  but 
still  somewhat  dubious  jawbone  of  Moulin-Quignon,  or  the 
carved  flints  of  the  diluvium  at  Abbeville  and  elsewhere, 
the  bones  of  extinct  animals  bearing  undeniable  marks  of 
wounds  made  by  man,  or  traces  of  human  work  ;  the 
remains  of  our  species  intermixed  with  those  of  extinct 
species,  in  the  tombs,  the  caves,  the  osseous  breccia,  and 
the  lava  of  ancient  volcanoes,  or  accompanied  with  the 
vestiges  of  a  very  primitive  industry ;  the  total  and  pro- 
longed ignorance  of  the  use  of  metals ;  the  changes  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  conformation  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face since  the  first  appearance  of  man  ;  there  are  certainly 
more  proofs  than  are  necessary  to  convince  even  those 
who  close  their  ears  most  obstinately  to  the  accents  of 
truth.  To  these  proofs  we  have  nevertheless  added  others 
drawn  from  traditions,  monuments,  the  degree  of  civilisa- 
tion attained  by  the  nations  who  constructed  them,  even 
from  historical  chronology,  though  the  time  which  has 
elapsed  since  the  earliest  dawn  of  history  is  but  an  instant 
compared  with  eternity.  For  what  are  the  7,000  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  the  foundation  of  Thebes  with 
its  hundred  gates  ?  What  are  the  5,000  or,  at  most, 
6,000  years  admitted  by  archaeologists  as  the  age  of  the 
pyramids  and  the  statues  of  Schafra  and  Ea-em-ke  ?  Of 
what  account  even  are  the  sixty-six  centuries  attributed  to 
the  great  pyramid  of  Sakkara  ?  All  these  dates,  supposing 
them  to  be  accurate  and  established  by  proof,  are  nothing 

>  Scheuchzer,  at  once  a  naturalist  and  a  theologian,  accompanies 
his  description  with  the  following  pious  exhortation  : — 
*  Uetriibtes  Ueinge  iist  von  einem  alten  Siinder, 
Erwachc,  Stein,  das  Herz  der  neuen  Bosheitskinder.' 


THE   AGE   OF   MAN.  18H 

in  comparison  to  the  geoloo;ical  ages  during  which  European 
man  h'ft  the  traces  of  his  dawning  inchistry  and  even  his 
own  remains  which  we  find  in  the  dihivium  of  the  caves 
and  vaUeys,  perhaps  even  in  the  pleiocene  and  meiocene 
strata  of  the  tertiary  beds. 

However,  we  are  far  from  reposing  bhnd  faith  in  those 
rash  or  at  least  premature  calculations,  by  means  of  which 
certain  geologists  would  determine  in  more  or  less  plau- 
sible figures  the  date  of  the  first  appearance  of  man  on  the 
earth  or  the  respective  durations  of  the  ages  through 
which  he  passed  in  Europe  as  he  gradually  emerged  from 
a  state  of  complete  barbarism  to  the  advanced  civilisation 
he  has  now  attained. 

Since,  as  the  most  distinguished  among  our  learned 
men  avow,  science  is  as  yet  unable  to  determine  the  pre- 
cise dates  of  events  which  took  place  in  the  earliest  times 
of  Egyptian  history,  since  they  tell  us  that  fifty  years  ago 
not  a  wx^rd  of  this  history  was  known, ^  it  is  rash  to  en- 
deavour to  reconstruct  as  a  whole  the  early  archives  of 
the  human  race,  and  to  believe  that  we  possess  all  the 
records  indispensable  to  the  execution  of  so  difficult  and 
so  gigantic  a  work. 

It  matters  little  whether  man  has  inhabited  the  earth 
for  100,000  years,  as  a  well-known  geologist  maintains,  or 
for  as  many  centuries,  as  others  are  inclined  to  think. 
But  from  the  results  of  our  researches,  and  from  discoveries 
whose  authenticity  has  been  proved  by  the  strictest  exami- 
nation, we  can  now  draw  conclusions  of  immense  value, 
and  of  which  the  certainty  can  no  longer  be  denied. 

From  the  country  now  known  as  Picardy,  the  ancient 
inhabitant  of  Abbeville  or  Amiens  could  pass  into  Great 

'  In  making  soundings  in  the  slimy  soil  of  the  Nile  valley,  two  baked 
bricks  were  discovered,  one  at  a  depth  of  twenty,  the  other  of  twenty- 
four  yards.  If  we  estimate  the  thickness  of  the  annual  deposit  formed 
by  the  river  at  eight  inches  a  century,  we  must  assign  to  the  first  of 
these  bricks  an  age  of  12,000  years,  and  to  the  second  that  of  14,000. 
By  means  of  analogous  calculations,  P.urmeister  supposes  seventy-two 
thousand  years  to  hare  elapsed  since  the  lirst  appearance  of  man  upon  the 
soil  of  Egypt,  and  Draper  attributes  to  the  European  man  who  witnessed 
the  last  glacial  epoch  an  antiquity  of  more  than  250,000  years. 


184  THE   ANTIQUITY  OV   THE  HUMAN  EACE. 

Britain  without  crossing  the  Channel.  The  British  Isles 
were  united  to  Gaul  by  an  isthmus  which  has  been  since 
submerged.  The  level  of  the  Baltic  and  of  the  North 
Sea  was  400  feet  higher  than  it  is  at  the  present  day. 
The  valley  of  the  Somme  was  not  hollowed  to  the  depth 
it  has  now  attained  ;  Sicily  was  joined  to  Africa,  Barbary 
to  Spain.  Carthage,  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  the  palaces 
of  Uxmal  and  Palenque  were  not  yet  in  existence,  and  the 
bold  navigators  of  Tyre  and  of  Sidon  who  at  a  later  date 
were  to  undertake  their  perilous  voyages  along  the  coasts 
of  Africa,  were  yet  unborn.  What  we  know  with  certainty 
is  that  European  man  was  contemporaneous  with  the 
extinct  species  of  the  quaternary  epoch  (^elephas  primi- 
genius,  rhinoceros  tichorhinus,  ursus  spelceus,  fells 
spelcea,  &c.),  that  he  witnessed  the  upheaval  of  the  Alps 
and  the  extension  of  the  glaciers,  in  a  word,  that  he  lived 
for  thousands  of  years  before  the  dawn  of  the  remotest 
historical  traditions. 

It  is  even  possible  that  man  was  the  contemporary  of 
extinct  mammalia  of  species  yet  more  ancient  than  those 
just  mentioned,  that  is  of  the  elephas  meridionalis  of  the 
sands  of  Saint  Brest,  or  at  the  least  of  the  elepjhas  anti- 
quus,  assumed  to  be  prior  to  the  elephas  primigenius, 
since  their  bones  are  found  in  company  with  carved  flints 
in  several  English  caves,  associated  with  those  of  the  rhi^ 
noceros  hcemitechits  and  even  of  the  machairodus  latidens, 
which  is  of  still  earlier  date. 

M.  Ed.  Lartet  is  also  of  opinion  that  there  is  nothing 
really  impossible  in  the  existence  of  man  as  early  as  the 
tertiary  period.  The  incisions  observed  upon  the  bones 
of  the  elephas  meridionalis  by  J\l.  Desnoyers,  perhaps 
even  those  remarked  by  the  Abbe  Bourgeois  upon  the 
carved  flints  of  la  Beauce,  tend  to  this  conclusion.  But 
in  the  absence  of  more  numerous  facts  and  of  more  deci- 
sive proofs  we  are  forced  to  suspend  our  judgment  until 
we  are  more  fully  informed.  I^et  us  give  a  few  moments 
attention  to  the  words  of  an  extremely  orthodox  savant, 
M.  F.  Lenormant,  a  sincere  Catholic.  He  says :  '  But  it 
will  be  doubtless  objected  to  by  some  people,  alarmed  at 


THE   BIBLE   AND   SCIENCE.  185 

the  audacity  of  t\io?^e  assertions  to  wliieli  the  public  is  not 
yet  accustomed,  and  which  are  nevertheless  regarded  as 
indisputable  by  men   of  science  :  "  How  can  you  make 
your  Egyptian  dates  agree  with  the  Bible,  with  the  4,004: 
years  which  the  Scriptures  assign  as  the  lapse  of  time 
between  the  creation  of  man  and  the  coming  of  Christ, 
with  the  2,348  only  which  they  count  between  the  deluge 
and   the    Incarnation?"     Many  people    would   reject   as 
valueless  the  authority  of  JMoses  in  reply  to  such  a  ques- 
tion.    I  am  not  of  the  number.     A  Catholic,  profoundly 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  all  that  my  religion  teaches,  I 
respect  the   Holy   Scriptures,  I  bow  to  their  authority, 
and   I  believe  in  the   divine  inspiration  which  dictated 
them.     But  many  things  which  do  not  really  belong  to 
them  are  attributed  by  commentators  to  the  Scriptures, 
and  chronology  is    of   the  number.     I  do  not  consider 
myself  in  any  way  bound  to  accept  it  as  an  article   of 
faith,  and  when   I  meet  with  positive  facts  which  refute 
it,  I  prefer  the  facts  to  the  most  ingenious  systems  of 
commentators.     One  of  the  most  eminent  learned  men 
of  the  present  centiu-y,  and  at  the  same  time  a  sincere 
Christian,  Sylvestre  de  Sacy,  used  to  say,  "People  perplex 
their  minds  about  Biblical  chronology,  and  the  discrepancy 
which  exists  between  it  and  the  discoveries  of  modern 
science.    They  are  greatly  in  error,  for  there  is  no  Biblical 
chronology."     Nothing  can  be  truer,  and  Catholics  as  well 
as  their  opponents  should  always  bear  this  in  mind  when 
they  are  occupied  with  the  study  of  the  early  history  of 
humanity.     For  chronology  can  only  exist  where  the  ne- 
cessary elements   occur,  when  we    are   in   possession  of 
records  which  control  the  accuracy  of  the  figures  trans- 
mitted by  the  chroniclers,  and,  above  all,  when  w^e  know 
the  measure  of  time  in  use    among   the   people  whose 
annals  we  seek  to  reconstruct.     It  is  no  use,  therefore,  to 
seek  in  the  Scriptures  that  which  they  cannot  contain, 
a  iixed  and   certain  chronology.'     (Francois    Lenormant, 
'L'Egypte,'p.  61.)  ,     .      .      .        . 

We  repeat  the  statement  we  made  at  the  begmnmg  of 
this  book  : — '  Science  is  bound  to  no  philosophy — to  no 


18G  THE  ANTIQUITY   OF  THE  HUMAN  KACE. 

religion.     Is  there  a  Protestant  geometry,  physics,  and 
physiology,  and  another  Catholic  ?  ' 

We  may  add,  moreover,  to  the  honour  of  our  century, 
that  the  Catholic  Church  itself,  so  long  and  so  bitterly 
hostile  to  the  discoveries  of  profane  science,  confirms 
them  at  the  present  day  by  the  voice  and  the  labours  of 
her  most  cultivated  and  enlightened  ministers. 

A  learned  abbe,  professor  at  the  Sorbonne,  asserts 
categorically  that  prehistoric  archaeology  and  palseontology 
may,  without  running  counter  to  the  Scriptures,  discover 
in  the  tertiary  beds  and  in  those  of  the  early  part  of  the 
quaternary  period  the  traces  of  pre- Adamites.  Since  it 
disregards  all  creations  anterior  to  the  last  deluge  but  one 
(that  which  produced  the  diluvium,  according  to  the  abbe), 
Bible  revelation  leaves  us  free  to  admit  the  existence  of 
man  in  the  grey  diluvium,  in  pleiocene  and  even  in  eocene 
strata.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  geologists  are  not 
all  agreed  in  regarding  the  men  who  inhabited  the  globe 
in  these  primitive  ages  as  our  ancestors.'  (L'Abbe  Fabre, 
*  Les  origines  de  la  terre  et  de  I'homme,'  p.  454.)  M.  Fabre 
will  I  hope  permit  me  to  differ  from  him  on  this  last  point. 

The  Abbe  Bourgeois,  whose  courage  and  perseverance 
has  been  recognised  by  M.  Broca,  president  at  the  Con- 
gress of  the  Anthropological  Sciences,  has  laboured  during 
eleven  years  in  the  search  for  proofs  of  the  existence  of 
man  during  the  meiocene  epoch.  Although  an  early  death 
cut  short  his  labours  before  he  was  able  to  see  the  definite 
triumph  of  his  theory,  rash  in  appearance,  but  nevertheless 
strictly  logical,  he  was  at  least,  says  M.  Broca,  '  a  rare  and 
noble  example  of  a  deeply  religious  mind,  whose  faith  is 
sufficiently  firm  to  have  nothing  to  fear  from  scientific 
truth.'  (Speech  at  the  opening  of  the  Congress  of  the 
Anthropological  Sciences,  Paris,  August  IH,  1878.) 

Lastly,  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  doing  homage 
also  to  scientific  truth,  expresses  himself  as  follows  on 
the  subject  of  the  old  traditions  of  the  New  World:  — 
'  If  I  am  to  believe  the  records  which  I  have  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  discover,  there  are  dates  which  allude  to 
ancient  convulsions  of  nature  in  these  regions,  to  deluges 


UNANIMOUS  PPvOOFS   OF  ANTIQUITY.  187 

and  terrible  inundations,  followed  by  the  upheaval  of 
mountains  accompanied  by  volcanic  eruptions.  Traditions 
whose  traces  recur  in  Mexico,  in  Central  America,  in 
Peru,  and  in  Bolivia,  suggest  even  the  idea  that  man 
existed  in  these  ditferent  countries  at  the  time  of  the 
gigantic  upheaval  of  the  Andes,  and  that  he  has  retained 
the  memory  of  it.' 

Thus  all  the  proofs  that  we  have  collected  together 
touching  the  great  age  of  the  human  race,  and  those 
which  scientific  men  of  every  nationality  are  daily  collect- 
ing, are  it  is  true  of  unequal  value,  but  all  are  in  perfect 
agreement,  and  most  of  them  are  checked  by  geologists 
of  the  first  rank,  and  judges  whose  competence  cannot  be 
surpassed,  among  whom  is  the  eminent  palaeontologist, 
M.  Ed.  Lartet.  He  says  upon  this  subject,  '  The  truth  so 
long  contested,  that  of  the  co-existence  of  man  with  the 
great  extinct  species  (elephas  jorimi genius,  rhinoceros 
tichorhinus,  hyaena  spelcea,  ursits  spelceus,  &c.),  appears 
to  me  to  be  hencefor^-ard  unassailable  and  definitely  con- 
quered by  science.'     ('  Cavernes  du  Perigord,'  p.  35.) 

We  repeat  then,  with  the  real  founder  of  archaeology, 
'  God  is  eternal,  but  man  is  old  indeed,'  even  in  the  New 
World.  Such  is  the  logical  conclusion  of  the  first  part  of 
thirf  work. 


PART  11. 

PRIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

DOMESTIC  LIFE. 

I.  THE    ORIGIN   OF    THE   USE  OF  FIRE. 

Fire,  the  common  source  of  heat,  light,  and  life,  the  active 
agent  in  numberless  industries,  and  above  all  in  the  work- 
ing of  metals,  is  beyond  question  one  of  the  most  precious 
conquests  which  man  has  made  from  nature.  Its  discovery 
was  more  than  a  benefit ;  it  was  a  giant  stride  forward 
in  the  path  of  civilisation.  With  the  use  of  fire  society 
arose,  family  life  and  all  the  sacred  joys  of  the  domestic 
hearth  ;  art  and  industry  were  born,  with  all  the  wonders 
which  they  have  produced  and  are  daily  producing.  Hence 
it  is  easy  to  understand  that  fire  has  been  and  still  is 
among  a  great  many  nations  the  object  of  a  special  worship 
(the  priests  of  Baal,  the  Brahmins  of  India,  the  vestal 
virgins,  the  priestesses  of  the  sun  in  Peru,  are  a  few 
examples  among  many),  and  that  it  has  often  figured  in 
(he  religious  and  funeral  rites  of  nations  remote  from  each 
other  both  in  time  and  space  ;  for  example,  the  Chaldeans, 
Hebrews,  Greeks,  Pomans,  Hindus,  Peruvians,  Mexicans, 
&c.  But  how  and  at  what  epoch  did  man  arrive  at  this 
great  discovery,  without  which  it  is  difficult  to  corceive 
the  possibility  of  his  various  arts,  nay  of  his  very  exist- 
ence ?  Did  he  steal  fire  from  heaven,  as  the  Indian  and 
Hellenic  myths  tell  us ;  or,  as  other  legends  say,  did  he 


LEGENDARY   ORIGIN   OF   FIRE.  189 

turn  to  account  the  spontaneous  burning  of  the  forests, 
the  rubbing  of  two  dry  branches  violently  agitated  by  the 
wind  ;  or,  lastly,  did  he  from  the  very  beginning  endeavour 
to  find  one  of  those  simple  and  practical  means  employed 
at  the  present  day  by  certain  savage  or  half-civilised 
tribes  to  procure  themselves  the  fire  necessary  to  daily 
life  ? 

In  spite  of  a  number  of  contrary  assertions,  however 
far  we  go  back  in  the  history  of  man  we  always  find  him 
in  possession  of  fire.  The  fable  of  Prometheus,  who  went 
to  seek  it  on  Olympus  itself,  is  no  other  than  the  Vedic 
myth  which  represents  the  god  Agn%  or  the  celestial  fire, 
in  Latin  Ignis,  as  hidden  in  a  casket  whence  Matarichvan 
forced  him  to  come  forth,  and  presented  him  to  Manou  the 
first  man,  or  to  Brighu  the  hrilliant,  father  of  the  priestly 
family  of  that  name. 

The  name  of  Prometheus  himself  is  of  Vedic  origin, 
and  recalls  the  process  employed  by  the  ancient  Brahmins 
to  obtain  the  sacred  fire.  They  used  for  this  purpose  a 
stick  which  they  called  matha  or  pramatha,  the  prefix 
pra  adding  the  idea  of  robbing  by  force  to  that  contained 
in  the  root  matha  of  the  verb  mathdmi  or  manthnanii^ 
to  produce  by  friction.  Prometheus  is  he  who  discovers 
fire,  brings  it  from  its  hiding  place  and  communicates  it 
to  men.  From  Pramantha  or  Pramathyus,  he  w^ho  hollows 
by  friction,  who  steals  fire,  the  transition  is  easy  and 
natural ;  and  there  is  but  a  step  from  the  Hindu  Pra- 
mathyus to  the  Greek  Prometheus,  who  stole  the  fire  from 
heaven  to  kindle  the  spark  of  life  in  the  man  of  clay. 

The  lighting  stick  or  jjramantlia  was  furnished  with  a 
cord  of  hemp  twisted  with  cow's  hair,  and  by  means  of  this 
cord  rolled  round  the  upper  part,  the  priest  of  Brahma 
imparted  to  it  a  rotatory  motion  alternately  from  left 
to  right,  and  from  right  to  left.  The  stick  was  turned 
in  a  little  hollow  formed  at  the  point  of  intersection  of 
two  pieces  of  wood  placed  one  above  the  other  in  the  form 
of  a  cross,  and  of  which  the  extremities  bent  at  right  angles 
were  firmly  fixed  by  four  bronze  nails.    The  whole  apparatus 


190  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION 

was  called  Snjastika.^  The  father  of  the  sacred  fire  bore 
the  name  of  Tioastri,  that  is,  the  divine  carpenter,  who 
made  the  Swastika,  and  the  Pramantha  whose  friction 
produced  the  divine  child  Agni,  in  Latin  Ignis.  His 
mother  was  named  Maya.  He  himself  was  styled  Akta 
(anointed,  '^(^pLaTos)  after  the  priests  had  poured  upon  his 
head  the  spirituous  Soma,  and  on  his  body  butter  purified 
by  sacrifice. 

In  his  interesting  work  upon  the  origin  of  fire  ('  Die 
Herabkunft  des  Feuers')  Adalbert  Ktihn  always  designates 
the  r^-J  and  this  other  similar  sign  r^  by  the  name  of 
arani,  and  he  considers  them  both  as  the  principal 
religious  symbols  of  our  Aryan  ancestors.  He  adds  :  '  This 
process  of  kindling  fire  naturally  led  man  to  the  idea  of 
sexual  reproduction.  This  is  w4iat  we  see  in  a  hymn  of 
the  Kigveda  where  the  Pramantha  evidently  represents  the 
male,  and  in  which  the  dimensions  of  the  ^ram  and  of  its 
various  parts  are  accurately  given  and  the  exact  spot 
indicated  on  which  the  pramantha  should  be  placed  in 
order  to  obtain  the  desired  result.' 

The  legend  of  which  we  have  just  spoken  recurs  in 
the  Zend-Avesta,  or  sacred  book  of  the  Persians,  and  in 
the  Vedic  hymns  of  Hindustan,  under  its  double  form  at 
once  material  and  metaphysical.  But  the  authors  of  these 
hymns  bear  witness  that  this  same  legend  had  long  before 
their  time  been  symbolised  in  a  great  national  worship, 
whose  founder,  Rhibu,  is  none  other  than  Orpheus  himself. 
This  tradition,  common  to  the  Greeks,  Hindus,  and  Per- 
sians, carries  us  back  to  those  early  times  when  the  branches 

•  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Spastica  of  India  r-f-"  occurs  often 
in  these  two  forms,  rHT-"  or  toV]  apon  the  fiisa'ioles  or  terra-cotta  discs 
found  in  such  abundance  by  Dr.  Schliemann  under  the  ruins  of  an- 
cient Troy.  Hence  the  natural  conclusion  that  the  Trojans  were  of 
Aryan  race.  See  Heinrich  Schliem.mn,  TrojnniscJie  AlterthUmer,  and 
Emile  Burnouf,  La  science  des  Beligions.  The  close  resemblance  which 
exists  between  certain  ceremonies  of  the  worship  of  Agin  and  certain 
rites  of  the  Catholic  religion  may  also  be  explained,  at  least  to  a  certain 
extent,  by  their  common  origin.  Agni,  in  the  condition  of  AJtta  oi 
anointed,  is  suggestive  of  Christ;  Maya,  Mary  His  mother;  TwastH^ 
Saint  Josejih,  the  carpenter  of  the  Bible. 


nUMlTIVE   METUODS   OF   OBTAINING    FIRE. 


191 


of  this  yet  unclivided  stock  still  wandered  on  the  banks  of 
the  Oxus. 

In  his  '  Ivesearches  on  the  Early  History  of  .Afankind,' 
Tylor  gives  valuable  details  respecting  the  invention  of 
fire,  and  the  various  means  employed  in  every  age  to  pro- 
cure it.  The  primitive  method  seems  to  have  been,  in  his 
opinion,  the  friction  of  two  pieces  of  dry  wood  one  against 
the  other;  but  this  process  improved  with  the  lapse  of 
time,  and  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  ingenuity  of  the 


Fig.    Go.    The   stick   and   Gnof)VK       Fig.  GO.   Thk   fihe   prill  used  in 


method  employed  at  lahiti, 
T<)N<;a,  Samoa,  in  the  Sandwich 
Isles,  New  Zealand.  &c.  The 
wood  u~ed  for  kindlin.ii;  tlie  fire,  es- 
pecially at  Tahiti,  i.s  the  Hibiscus  ti- 
iiaceus,  a  light  dry  wood. 


AL'STRALiA,  Tasmania,  Kamts- 
CHATKA,  Thibet.  Hindustan, 
Africa,  among  the  Glanchos 
OF  the  Canaries,  in  Mexico,  &c. 


peoples  by  whom  it  was  adopted.  Thus  in  the  first  place 
the  friction  was  produced  by  means  of  a  stick  moved 
rapidly  backwards  and  forwards  upon  a  piece  of  soft  dry 
wood  placed  upon  the  ground.  This  method  is  employed 
by  the  savages  of  Tahiti,  New  Zealand,  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  Timor,  &c.  This  process  is  named  stick  and 
groove  (see  fig.  65)  by  Tylor,  as  opposed  to  the  fire  drill 
which  is  far  more  generally  used  (tigs.  06,  67,  and  68.)  In 
its  simplest  form  the  fire  drill  consists  of  a  stick  of  which 


19^ 


PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


Fig.  67.   Ancient   Mexican   kind- 
ling   A    FIRE    BY    MEANS    OF    THE 

FiKE  DRILL.  (From  an  ancient 
Mexican  painting,  reproduced  in 
outline  by  Tylor.) 


one  end  is  placed  in  a  cavity  hollowed  in  a  piece  of  dry 
wood  ;  it  is  turned  rapidly  between  the  two  hands,  w^hich 

exercise  upon  it  at  the 
same  time  a  powerful 
vertical  pressure.  This 
implement  recurs  not 
only  in  Australia,  Su- 
matra, the  Caroline 
Islands,  and  Kamts- 
chatka,  but  even  in 
China,  Southern  Africa, 
and  the  two  Americas. 
It  was  used  by  the  an- 
cient Mexicans  (fig.  67); 
and  is  still  employed 
among  the  Yenadis  in 
the  south  of  India,  the 
savage  Veddas  of  Ceylon,  and  the  Gauchos  of  South  America 
(fig.  68.) 

It    was    a    further    advance    when  the    stick  used   to 

kindle  the  fire  was 
'"I'l  made  to  turn  upon 
itself  by  a  cord  or 
leathern  thong  wound 
round  it,  and  of  which 
the  two  ends  were 
alternately  pulled  in 
opposite  directions. 
This  is  the  instru- 
ment described  in  the 
Veddas,  and  still  em- 
ployed by  the  Brah- 
mins of  the  present 
day  to  kindle  the 
sacred  fire.  For  as 
Tylor  points  out,  in 
religious  ceremonies  fire  is  very  frequently  obtained  by 
antique  methods  in  preference  to  the  simpler  means  in- 
vented by  modern  art.    Thus  the  sacred  fire  allowed  to  die 


Fig.  68.    Another   kind   of    fire 

DRILL    USED    BY   THE    GaUCHOS,    A 

half  savage  pastoral  people, 
inhabitants  of  the  pampas  of 
America. 


THE  TIIONG   DRILL. 


193 


out  by  the  vestiil  virgins  was  rekindled  liy  means  of  a 
burning  glass.  A  similar  means  was  employed  by  the  an- 
cient priests  of  Peru  to  light  the  tire  for  sacrifices.  It  is 
one  of  those  pious  customs  by  which  men  are  shown  that 
they  revere  the  memory  of  their  remotest  ancestors. 

An  instrument  somewhat  resembling  that  used  by  the 
Hindu  Brahmins  is  employed  at  the  present  day  among 
the  Esquimaux  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  Aleutian  Isles 
(hg.  69.)  It  consists  of  a  stick  of  which  one  end  is 
supported  by  a  piece  of  wood  fixed  between  the  teeth,  and 


Fig.  69.  Esquimaux  utgiiting  a  fire  by  mean's  of 
the  thong  dkill. 


the  other  rests  in  a  little  hollow  made  in  another  piece  of 
dry  wood  ;  it  is  put  in  motion  by  means  of  a  thong  twisted 
twice  round  the  upright  stick,  and  which  the  two  hands 
draw  alternately  to  the  right  and  to  the  left.  Slight 
modifications  introduced  into  the  construction  of  the  fire 
drill,  and  the  ingenuity  of  different  tribes,  have  produced 
various  instruments  destined  to  the  same  purpose.  Such, 
for  instance,  are  the  bow  drill,  moved  by  means  of  a  bow, 
which  resembles  the  modern  drill ;  and  the  pump  drill, 
employed  both  for  the  production  of  fire,  and  for  boring 
holes  in  Avood,  stone,  or  metal  (figs.  70  and  71.) 


194 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


Among  other  methods  of  obtaining  fire,  or  at  least 
sparks,  we  may  mention  in  passing,  the  striking  of  two 
flints  against  each  other,  or  of  one  tlint  against  a  piece  of 
steel  or  iron  pyrites  ;  the  shock  of  two  pieces  of  bamboo, 
a  means  employed  in  China ;  the  compression  of  air  in  a 
wooden  or  ivory  tube,  a  Malay  process,  &c.  &c. 

The  dried  parenchyma  of  the  touchwood  tree,  the 
frayed  bark  of  the  cedar,^  dried  leaves,  charred  vegetable 
fibre,  &c.,  are  the  combustible  materials  usually  employed 
for  the  reception  of  the  spark  obtained  by  percussion. 


Fig.  70.  Thp:  bow  drill,  KMri.oYED 
BY  THE  Sioux  and  Canadian 
Indians. 


Fig.  71    The  pump  drill  in 

USE   AMONG     THE     IrOQIOIS 
FROM    TIME   IMMEMORIAL. 


Does  there  exist,  has  there  ever  existed,  a  people  to 
whom  the  use  of  fire,  or  of  the  manner  of  producing  it, 
was  completely  unknown  ?  A  considerable  number  of 
authors  incline  to  this  opinion.  It  has  been  said,  for 
instance,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Tasmania  are  acquainted 
with  fire  and  make  use  of  it,  but  that  they  are  ignorant 
of  the   means  of  producing  it.     Hence  it  is  the  special 

^  The  bark  of  the  cedar  ravelled  and  dried  is,  accordino:  to  Paul 
Kane,  the  substance  employed  by  the  Chinooks  of  the  river  Columbia 
to  catch  the  sparks  produced  by  means  of  a  round  stick  turned  \)y  both 
hands  in  a  hollow  made  in  the  middle  of  a  plauk  of  cedar  wood. 


FABLED   ORIGIN    OF   FIRE.  195 

province  of  their  wives  to  bear  torches,  burning  night  and 
day,  which  serve  to  guide  the  steps  of  the  tribe  through 
the  bush.  Should  the  torch  go  out,  a  joiu-ney  sometimes 
of  considerable  length  is  undertaken  in  order  to  rekindle 
it  at  the  fire  of  another  tribe.  Each  family  nearly  always 
carries  a  cone  of  the  banksia,  whose  slow  combustion,  like 
that  of  the  touchwood,  is  calculated  to  fulfil  the  desired 
purpose. 

A  further  proof  that  the  Australians  themselves  are 
not  so  ignorant  of  the  use  of  fire  as  certain  authors 
imagine  or  assert,  is  found  in  a  legend  relating  to  its 
origin.  We  borrow  the  account  of  this  fable  from  Wilson, 
who,  in  his  work  upon  Prehistoric  Man,  has  devoted  a 
most  interesting  chapter  to  the  question  now  before  us  : — 

'  A  long,  long  time  ago,  a  little  bandicoot,  a  small 
sharp-nosed  animal,  not  unlike  the  guinea-pig,  was  the 
sole  owner  of  a  firebrand,  which  he  cherished  with  the 
greatest  jealousy.  So  selfish  was  he  in  the  use  of  his 
prize,  that  he  obstinately  refused  to  share  it  with  the  other 
animals.  So  they  held  a  general  council,  when  it  was 
decided  that  the  fire  must  be  obtained  from  the  bandicoot 
either  by  force  or  strategy.  The  hawk  and  pigeon  were 
deputed  to  carry  out  this  resolution ;  and  after  vainly 
trying  to  induce  the  fire-owner  to  share  its  blessings  with 
his  neighbours,  the  pigeon,  seizing  as  he  thought  an 
unguarded  moment,  made  a  dash  to  obtain  the  prize.  The 
bandicoot  saw  that  affairs  had  come  to  a  crisis,  and,  in 
desperation,  threw  the  fire  towards  the  river,  there  to 
quench  it  for  ever.  But,  fortunately  for  the  black  man, 
the  sharp-eyed  hawk  was  hovering  near,  and  seeing  the 
fire  falling  into  the  water,  with  a  stroke  of  his  wing  he 
knocked  the  brand  far  over  the  stream  into  the  long  dry 
grass  of  the  opposite  bank,  which  immediately  ignited, 
and  the  flames  spread  over  the  face  of  the  country.  The 
black  man  then  felt  the  fire,  and  said  it  was  good.' 

Was  prehistoric  man  in  possession  of  fire  ?  According 
to  the  Abbe  Bourgeois,  man  was  acquainted  with  the 
use  of  fire  from  the  meiocene  epoch.  This  assertion  is 
founded  upon  his  discovery  in  the  sand  beds  near  Orleans 


196  PRIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

of  a  stony  fragment  of  an  artificial  composite  intermixed 
with  carbon,  and  lying  among  bones  of  the  mastodon  and 
dinotheriuin.  It  is  further  supported  by  the  cracked 
flints  found  by  the  same  savant  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Thenay,  not  far  from  the  shores  of  the  lake  of  Beauce. 
These  flints  bear,  it  seems,  unmistakeable  traces  of  the 
action  of  fire,  but  this  may  have  been  the  effect  of  light- 
ning. If  it  were  not  so,  where  are  the  ashes  and  the 
cinders  which  would  naturally  accompany  these  flints  if 
they  had  really  been  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  fire  of 
a  hearth  ?  Where  is  the  hearth  itself  ?  The  hypothesis 
of  the  Abbe  Bourgeois  may  be  correct,  but,  in  my  opinion 
at  least,  it  is  anything  but  proved. 

But  if  the  existence  of  fire  as  early  as  the  meiocene 
epoch  is  open  to  doubt,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  use 
of  this  element  was  known  to  the  earliest  quaternary 
man.  Numerous  hearths,  ashes,  cinders,  bones  partly  or 
entirely  carbonised,  fragments  of  rude  pottery  blackened 
by  smoke,  &c.,  have  been  found  in  caves  belonging  to  the 
age  of  the  cave  bear,  the  reindeer,  and  of  polished  stone, 
and  they  thereby  show  that  the  inhabitants  of  these 
caverns  were  accustomed  to  cook  their  food,  and  thus  to 
render  digestion  easier  and  more  complete. 

With  fire  prehistoric  man  burnt  the  bodies  of  the  dead, 
hollowed  his  canoes,  and  preserved  from  a  too  rapid  decay 
the  stakes  which  formed  the  platform  on  which  he  built 
his  lake  dwellings.  Not  only  did  the  inhabitant  of  the 
caves  and  lake  dwellings  know  how  to  cook  his  food  and 
warm  his  dwelling,  but  he  was  also  acquainted  with  several 
methods  of  lighting  it  at  night.  A  piece  of  charred  resin- 
ous wood,  which  was  probably  used  for  this  purpose,  was 
found  in  Lake  Fimon.  In  the  same  way  that  the  modern 
Esquimaux  lights  his  snow  hut  by  means  of  lamps  fed 
'vith  the  oil  of  the  seal  or  the  whale,  the  Danes  of  tlie 
kitchen  middens  employed  a  wick  of  moss,  one  end  of 
which  was  buried  in  the  stomach  of  a  great  penguin  [alca 
iinpennis),  which  is  laden  with  fiit. 

In  the  age  of  the  lake  dwellings,  silex  or  quartz  and 
iron  pyrites  were  used  to  procure  fire  by  striking  one  of 


FIRE   IN   THE   QUATERNARY   EPOCII.  197 

these  two  substances  against  the  other ;  this  fiict  is  at- 
tested by  discoveries  made  in  the  Swiss  lakes  at  IMeilen, 
IMooseedorf,  Wangen,  and  Kobenhausen  of  pieces  of  tinder 
from  the  bark  of  the  touchwood  tree.  Moreover,  ]\LM. 
E(L  Lartet  and  Christy  hold  that  the  circular  or  quad- 
rangular blocks  of  granite  with  a  hollow  in  the  middle, 
which  they  found  in  the  bone  caves  of  Perigord,  were  used 
as  a  means  of  procuring  fire  by  making  a  wooden  stick 
revolve  rapidly  in  the  central  cavity  after  the  manner  of 
the  priests  of  Brahma. 

We  are  firmly  convinced,  we  repeat  once  more,  that  fire 
was  very  early  know^n  to  man,  since  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  conceive  how  he  can  have  existed  without  it.  Hence 
'  who  can  imagine  the  joy,  the  delight,  thp  radiant  exulta- 
tion of  that  man  among  our  unknown  ancestors  who  first 
presented  in  triumph  to  the  astonished  eyes  of  the  be- 
wildered tribe  the  smoking  staff  from  which  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  producing  a  flame  ?  '  (Albert  Eeville,  '  Kevue 
des  Deux  Mondes,'  1862.) 

Fire  presided  at  the  birth  of  nearly  every  art,  or 
quickened  its  progress.  The  working  in  metals,  archi- 
tecture, keramic  art,  agriculture,,  navigation,  commerce, 
industry,  are  all  carried  on  by  means  of  its  life-giving 
flame.  It  has  played  and  still  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  religious  ceremonies  and  funereal  rites  of  all  peoples, 
savage  or  civilised.  But  on  the  other  hand,  as  though 
fate  ordained  that  evil  must  always  accompany  good,  fire 
destroys  more  rapidly  than  it  creates  by  forging  those 
terrible  engines,  those  instruments  of  death,  by  whose 
means  the  flower  of  nations  is  laid  low  on  the  battle-field. 

But  let  us  forget  the  ills  it  causes,  and  remember  only 
its  benefits.  These  have  been  enumerated  by  Wilson  in 
an  eloquent  page,  which  will  serve  as  an  apt  and  natural 
conclusion  to  this  chapter  on  the  history  of  fire  : — 

'  The  iron  ore  lay  a  dark,  unsightly,  and  inert  mass ; 
and  alongside  of  it,  in  contemporaneous  strata,  the  fire 
heat  of  centuries,  buried  in  forgotten  eras  of  geological 
time,  had  been  compacted  into  vegeUible  coal.  And  now 
five  was  to  accomplish  its  triumphs,  and  make  the  great 


198  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

levels  and  grand  river-courses  of  the  New  World  the 
scenes  of  a  revolution  unequalled  since  time  itself  was 
born.  Coal  and  iron  are  wedded  together.  The  new 
forgers  of  the  thunderbolts  toil  in  the  roaring  forges  of 
Birmingham,  Glasgow,  Wolverhampton,  and  Woolwich. 
Watt,  Arkwright,  Brunei,  Stephenson,  are  the  Tubal- 
Cains  and  Wayland  Smiths  of  our  modern  age.  The 
Atlantic  is  bridged  by  their  ocean  steamers ;  and,  where 
the  genius  of  Europe's  solitary  believer  in  a  Far  West 
guided  the  caravels  of  Spain  through  the  dread  mysteries 
of  the  ocean  to  another  world,  the  merchant  navies  of 
the  nations  speed,  defiant  of  wind  and  waves,  propelled 
by  new  powers  that  slumbered,  abiding  their  waking  time, 
in  that  tiny  spark  lit  by  the  forest-Prometheus.  Tended 
by  this  willing  slave,  mechanical  skill  plies  unwearied  its 
great  task.  The  w^ork  of  old  centuries  is  outsped  in  single 
years.  Everywhere,  and  in  all  shapes,  the  new  develop- 
ments of  this  primitive  element  of  science  startle  us  with 
their  novel  and  exhaustless  powers.  Northward,  south- 
w^ard,  and  far  into  the  wilds  on  the  western  horizon  of 
civilisation,  run  the  new  iron  highways,  rush  the  iron 
horses,  snorting  and  shrieking  as  they  hasten  onward  to 
the  Pacific,  and  pant  till,  with  the  ocean  steamships  of 
commerce,  they  shall  engirdle  the  world.' 

II.   FOOD  AWD    COOKING. 

Exposed  to  the  hardships  of  an  inclement  climate,  es- 
pecially at  the  epoch  of  the  great  extension  of  the  glaciers 
which  at  one  time  covered  all  our  mountains,  a  prey  to  all 
the  privations  of  a  rude  and  precarious  life,  forced  to  de- 
fend himself  against  wild  beasts,  often  of  gigantic  size, 
which  surrounded  him  on  all  sides,  the  first  preoccupation 
of  quaternary  man  was  to  provide  himself  with  food  and 
clothing  by  means  of  fishing  and  hunting,  and  to  manu- 
facture weapons  and  tools  to  assure  his  existence,  and  that 
of  his  family. 

Frugivorous  by  instinct,'  that  is  by  reason  of  the  con- 

^  Such  is  the  opinion  held  by  Flourcns,  Schaaffhausen,  and  Milne* 
Edwards,  and  it  is  also  our  own. 


FOOD   OF   rREIIISTOIilC   MAX.  109 

formation  of  his  digestive  orgnns  and  his  dental  system, 
in  which  respect  h(»  is  nearly  alHed  to  the  apes,  which  are 
nearly  all  fruit-eating  animals  in  their  natnral  state,^  man 
soon  became  omnivorous  from  necessity,  and  his  stomach 
readily  adapted  itself  to  every  kind  of  food.  Now,  how- 
ever, our  delicacy  revolts  at  the  idea  that  the  Austra- 
lians think  nothing  more  delicious  than  to  gorge  them- 
selves with  huge  morsels  of  putrefying  whale's  flesh.  We 
can  hardly  believe,  and  yet  it  is  true,  that  the  Esquimaux 
drink  the  oil  of  the  seal  and  the  cachalot,  that  the  Chinese 
take  pleasure  in  eating  dogs,  cats,  rats,  toads,  the  larva?  and 
chrysalides  of  silkworms,  &c.  Lastly,  we  are  ready  to  rise 
in  revolt  when  philanthropists,  exempt  from  prejudice, 
propose  to  establish  in  our  large  towns  slaughter-houses 
where  horseflesh  should  be  sold  cheap,  to  the  great  advan- 
tage of  public  alimentation. 

The  Gauls  and  Franks  were  certainly  more  reasonable 
and  less  dainty  than  we  are  in  this  respect.  Without 
going  back  so  far  into  the  past,  we  are  tcld  that  not  only 
the  flesh  of  the  horse  but  even  that  of  the  beaver  appeared 
in  the  tenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  centuries 
on  the  table  of  the  monks  of  Saint  G-all.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  flesh  of  the  noblest  of  mammalia  was  used 
as  food  by  the  men  of  Aurignac  and  Solutre,  to  mention 
only  two  examples  among  many.  The  flesh  of  the  bear, 
the  mammoth,  and  the  rhinoceros  figure  also  with  honour 
in  the  bill  of  fare  of  our  earliest  ancestors. 

The  urus,  the  aurochs,  bos  pj-^imigenius,  cervus  mega- 
ceros,  the  reindeer,  and  at  a  later  period  the  wild  goat, 
the  sheep,  the  wild  boar,  and  the  pig  served  them  as  daily 
food.  They  did  not  disdain  to  eat  the  flesh  of  the  dog, 
nor  even  of  the  fox,  in  spite  of  its  disgusting  smell.  On 
the  other  hand,  like  the  followers  of  Zoroaster,  the  ancient 
Scandinavians,  the  Britons  of  Caesar,  the  Jews,  Kussians, 

'  Savage  tells  us  the  chimpanzees  reared  in  captivity  refuse  meat  at 
first,  but  soon  take  to  it.  I  myself  saw  in  a  travellinir  menaLrtrie  a 
macaco  which  had  become  almost  exclusively  carnivorous.  However, 
there  is  nothing  more  astonishing  in  this  I'act  than  that  cajitive  eagles 
will  eat  bread,  pigeons  meat,  rabbits  coai^^ulated  blood,  and  that  Icelandio 
cows  feed  upon  dried  salt  tisb. 


200  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

and  Lapps,  actuated  probably  by  motives  of  superstition, 
abstained  from  the  flesh  of  hare.  Such  at  least  is  the 
opinion  of  M.  Ed.  Lartet.^ 

We  now  know  with  certainty  that  marrow  was  at  this 
same  epoch  a  much  prized  dainty,  as  it  is  at  the  present 
day  among  the  Esquimaux,  the  Greenlanders,  and  the 
Lapps.  In  this  fact  lies  the  explanation  of  the  fragmentary 
condition  of  the  bones  of  animals  and  even  of  the  human 
species,  which  occur  in  the  bone  caves,  the  tumuli,  the 
kitchen  middens,  &c.  e^c.  Various  species  of  aquatic  and 
land  birds  ;  in  Deumark  the  blackcock,  which  has  long  been 
extinct  in  that  country;  the  wild  swan,  the  great  penguin, 
now  restricted  to  Greenland,  fish  (herrings,  dabs,  &c.), 
several  molluscs,  especially  oysters  in  abundance,  mussels, 
queens,  whelks,  and  snails,  were  also  considerable  items  in 
tlie  diet  of  quaternary  man.  Lastly,  the  milk  of  the  flocks, 
and  cheese  were  added,  especially  among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  lake  cities,  to  the  diet  obtained  from  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms. 

At  first  the  flesh  of  animals  was  eaten  raw,  but  once 
possessed  of  fire  man  could  cook  his  food  and  thus  render 
it  easier  of  digestion,  and  even  make  use  of  a  number  of 
animal  and  vegetable  substances  unsuited  for  food  unless 
cooked.  Besides,  everywhere  and  at  a  very  early  date 
primitive  man  was  forced  to  obey  the  laws  of  custom  and 
of  climate,  and  to  content  himself  with  such  nourishment 
as  nature  provided  for  him ;  thus  we  know  of  lotos-eating, 
fish-eating,  earth-eating  tribes.  Often  even  he  w^as  obliged 
to  destroy  his  fellow-men  and  feed  upon  their  quivering 
flesh,  a  custom  which  still  prevails  among  the  aborigines 
of  New  Zealand,  Australia,  &c. 

'  In  one  of  the  caves  of  Thayngen,  that  of  Kesserloch,  near  Schaff- 
hausen,  besides  a  quantity  of  the  bones  of  the  reindeer  and  of  otlier 
animals,  a  number  of  those  of  the  hare  were  found  (^Lepm  timidvs, 
Ijinnreus).  Now  the  bones  of  this  animal  are  so  rare  in  the  ossiferous 
caves  exi^lored  by  M.  Ed.  Lartet,  that  the  eminent  palneontologist  had 
been  led  to  believe  tliat  the  early  inhabitants  of  Europe  abstained, 
either  out  of  superstition  or  from  an  invincible  repugnance,  from  eating 
tlie  flesh  of  tbis  rodent.  The  discovery  made  in  the  cave  cf  Kesserloch 
throws  a  doubt  upon  this  theory. 


EARLIEST   USE   OF   BREAD.  201 

The  dwellers  in  caves,  the  Danes  of  the  kitchen  mid- 
dens, and  even  the  inhabitants  of  the  earliest  lake  cities 
of  the  age  of  the  mannnoth  and  the  cave  bear,  were  not 
acqnainted  with  any  of  the  cereals  nor  with  the  mode  of 
cultivating  them. 

But  Kobenhausen  and  Wangen  have  furnished  not  only 
the  cereals  of  which  a  list  has  been  already  given,  but  also 
a  number  of  specimens  of  the  bread  which  was  made  from 
them.  This  bread,  which  was  baked  between  two  red-hot 
stones,  is  found  in  the  form  of  little  circular  cakes,  four  or 
five  inches  in  diameter  by  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a  quarter 
thick.  A  whole  cake  made  from  the  seeds  of  the  garden 
poppy,  reduced  to  a  cinder,  has  also  been  found.  .  The 
bread  of  the  lake  cities  was  unleavened,  and  often  contains 
grains  entire  or  hardly  bruised  by  the  handmill  in  which 
they  were  ground  or  rather  crushed,  exactly  as  in  the  days 
of  Odysseus,  king  of  Ithaca,  when  unhappy  female  slaves 
crushed  the  wheat  destined  for  the  food  of  the  chaste 
Penelope  and  her  fifty  suitors.  A  complete  handmill  of  the 
neolithic  age  was  shown  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1867. 
We  reproduce  here  a  specimen  from  the  same  period  (fig. 
72)  as  rudimentary  as  possible.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a 
trough,  and  still  contains  the  cylindrical  pestle  destined  to 
crush  the  grain.  Lastly,  ]M.  Devals  discovered  some  acorns 
mixed  with  chestnuts  in  the  dwellings  of  the  troglodytes 
of  Noulet,  near  jNIontauban. 

jNI.  Ed.  Dupont  had  suggested  that  some  small  tribes 
among  the  primitive  populations  of  Belgium  lived  ex- 
clusively upon  moles  and  shrewmice,  or  at  least  that  these 
animals  formed  their  principal  diet.  But  M.  Steenstrup 
has  proved  that  the  immense  quantity  of  the  bones  of 
these  rodents  found  in  certain  caves  of  Belgium  are  the 
remains  of  the  food  of  nocturnal  birds  of  prey,  notably  of 
the  barn  owl  (Strix  flammea).^ 

Lund  was  the   first  to  observe  similar  phenomena  in 

'  See  in  the  VidrusTiahclige  Meddelelscr  fra  den  vofurh.  Forening  i 
KJnhenharn,  1872,  Steenstrup's  paper,  entitled,  'On  tlie  marks  upon  the 
bones  contained  in  the  pellets  rejected  by  birds  of  prey,  and  ou  the  im- 
portance uf  these  marks  to  geology  and  arclueology.' 


202 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


several  Brazilian  caves,  and  lie  had  also  attributed  them  to 
their  true  cause,  that  is,  the  residue  of  their  food  thrown 
up  in  the  form  of  pellets  by  birds  of  prey. 

It  is  probable,  not  to  say  certain,  that  the  use  of  sea 
salt  as  a  seasoning  was  very  early  known  amongst  primitive 
races.  This  custom  is  moreover  founded  upon  a  law  of 
nature  so  imperious,  that  even  animals,  at  least  domestic 
cattle,  cannot  be  completely  deprived  of  it  with  impunity. 
The  use  of  salt,  on  the  other  hand,  favours  their  growth, 
renders  the  secretion  of  milk  more  copious,  the  milk  itself 


Fig.  72.  Neolithic  mill,   in  the  form  of  a  trough.  Forxn  with  its 
PESTLE  AT  Ty-Mawk  (Holyhead).     (After  bir  Jolin  Evans.) 

more  nourishing,  the  flesh  better  and  easier  of  digestion, 
and  the  wool  of  the  sheep  finer  and  more  fleecy.  Sea  salt 
appears  to  be  also  necessary  to  man.  In  countries  where 
it  is  rare,  it  is  used  instead  of  coin  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change. Among  the  Gallas  and  the  savages  of  the  Gold 
Coast,  Liebig  asserts  that  one  and  even  two  slaves  were 
given  in  exchange  for  a  handful  of  salt. 

Primitive  man  was  thus  enabled  to  obtain  this  season- 
ing by  barter,  as  he  obtained  Mediterranean  and  ocean 
shells  for  the  adornment  of  his  headdress,  his  person,  or 
his  clothing.     It   appears  that  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 


ORIGIN    OF  COOKERY. 


203 


Denmark  procured  this  substance  by  burning  the  Zosiera 
mari)H(,  which  abounds  upon  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic,  and 
sprinkbng  sea  water  upon  the  ashes. 

MM.  Lartet  and  Christy  found  in  the  caves  of  Perigord 
a  kind  of  spatuhi  or  spoon,  made  of  reindeer  horn,  with  a 
conical  handle  elegantly  carved,  and  widened  and  hollowed 
at  the  other  end  for  the  purpose  of  extracting  the  marrow 
from  bones  (fig.  73).  There  is  but  a  step  from  this  in- 
strument to  the  use  of  spoons  properly  so  called.  As  far 
as  I  know,  however,  none  of  the  latter  have  ever  been 
discovered  in  the  bone  caves  of  the  stone  ages.^ 

We  have  already  said  that  frequently  meat  and  other 
aliments  were  eaten  without  having  been  previously  cooked, 
but  often  also  they  were  roasted  upon  red-hot  coals.  The 
numerous  hearths  found  in  the  caves  and  the  half-charred 


Fig.  73.  Marrow  spckin  of  the  cavks  of   PEitiGoKD      (After  Ed.  Lartet 
ami  Christy.) 

bones  bear  witness  to  the  fact.  But  it  is  an  open  question 
whether  or  no  mankind  during  the  ages  previous  to  the 
invention  of  pottery  knew  how  to  obtain  boiling  water  for 
culinary  purposes. 

Before  coming  into  contact  with  Europeans  the  in- 
habitants of  Tahiti  had  no  conception  of  boiling  water,  or 
of  water  in  the  condition  of  steam.  If  we  may  rely  upon 
the  accounts  of  the  most  trustworthy  travellers,  among 
others.  Cook  and  Kotzebue,  who  all  attest  that  the  means 
used  by  us  for  obtaining  boiling  water  are  now  or  were 

J  TliG  inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Timor  make  spoons  out  of  frac:- 
ments  of  the  shell  of  a  species  of  nautilus  (ihe  /ir/ittilvs  jMiwjfilUts  of 
Linnanis).  I  have  in  my  possession  one  of  these  spoons  brought  from 
New  Caledonia,  and  which  is  simply  a  division  of  the  polythalamous 
shell  of  this  animal.  I  have  also  in  my  collection  a  valve  of  the 
wyfilt's  vuininrHifcnis,  perforated  near  the  hinpre  to  allow  of  the 
passa^'G  of  a's^rinji  made  from  vefretable  libre.  The  New  Caledonians 
are  said  to  carry  this  shell  suspended  from  the  girdle,  and  to  use  it  as  a 
plate. 


204  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

until  lately  unknown  to  a  number  of  tribes  in  all  parts  of 
the  globe,  we  have  good  grounds  for  returning  a  negative 
answer  to  the  above  question.  Moreover,  the  complete 
absence  of  earthenware  vessels  throughout  the  earlier 
stone  period  seems  to  confirm  this  opinion.  It  is  averred, 
however,  that  many  savage  tribes,  and  even  some  in  a  fairly 
advanced  state  of  civilisation,  procured  boiling  water  by 
dropping  red-hot  stones  into  water  contained  in  vessels  of 
potstone,  wood,  bark,  or  leather. 

The  flints  blackened  by  the  action  of  fire  found  beside 
the  hearths  in  the  bone  caves  have  perhaps  served  this 
purpose.  Everything  tends  to  show  that  this  custom  was 
commonly  practised  before  the  invention  of  clay  pottery. 
The  art  of  boiling  water  in  earthenware  vessels  exposed 
directly  to  the  action  of  fire  is  a  real  advance  on  the 
employment  of  red-hot  stones  for  this  purpose.^  The 
discovery  of  pottery  necessarily  put  an  end  to  this  most 
inconvenient  process. 

Before  the  discovery  of  the  use  of  metals,  knives  were 

'  The  process  known  as  'stone-boiling,'  which  consists  in  obtaining 
boiling  water  by  means  of  srones  heated  directly  in  the  fire  and  then 
dropped  in  the  water,  is  still  in  use  in  our  own  day  among  a  few  tribes 
which  Tylor  describes  in  his  interesting  chapter,  entitled  *  Fire,  Cook  • 
ing,  and  Vessels.'  See  Researches  into  the  Early  History  of  Manhind, 
3rd  edition,  p.  263.     We  will  mention  on  his  authority  : — 

1.  North  American  tribe,  the  Assiniboines, '  stone  boilers'  who  merely 
dig  a  hole  in  the  ground,  take  a  piece  of  the  animal's  raw  hide,  and 
press  it  down  with  their  hands  close  to  the  sides  of  the  hole,  which 
thus  becomes  a  sort  of  pot  or  basin.  This  they  till  with  water,  and 
they  make  a  number  of  stones  red  hot  in  a  fire  close  by.  The  meat  is 
put  into  the  water,  and  tlie  stones  dropped  in  till  the  meat  is  boiled. 

2.  Tiie  Snake  Indians,  those  of  the  tribe  of  Slaves,  Dog-ribs,  &c., 
still  make,  or  lately  made,  their  pots  of  roots  plaited  or  rather  twined 
so  closely  that  they  will  hold  water,  boiling  their  food  in  them  with 
hot  stones. 

3.  Tiie  Ostyaks  of  Siberia  employ  for  the  same  purpose  vessels  of 
bark  sewn  together,  and  the  practice  has  been  observed  of  using  the 
paunch  of  the  slaughtered  beast  as  a  vessel  for  cooking  the  blood  over 
the  fire,  which  r(!calls  a  similar  method  used  by  the  ancient  Scytlis 
when  other  more  convenient  vessels  failed  them.  The  Esquimaux,  the 
Kamtschatkans,  the  Australians,  the  New  Zealanders,  several  Polynesian 
tribes,  and,  in  Europe,  the  Irish  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  even 
the  modern  Finns,  may  also  be  ranked  among  the  'stone  boilei's,'  that 
is  among  those  tribes  which  are  in  the  habit  of  boiling  their  water  by 
means  of  red-hot  stones. 


BEVERAGES.  205 

merely  splinters  of  flint,  of  which  a  remarkable  specimen 
was  shown  in  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  18()7,  the  knife  of 
Panilhac  (Gers),  about  a  foot  long  by  three  inches  wide. 

As  regards  the  mode  of  eating,  the  incisors  of  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Switzerhmd,  Aquitaine,  Belgium, 
and  Denmark  prove  that  these  people  chewed  their  food  in 
a  manner  completely  different  to  ours.  Their  incisors,  in- 
stead of  being  shaped  like  a  chisel,  present  a  flat  surface 
like  the  molars.  The  explanation  of  this  peculiarity  is 
perhaps  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  roots  and  coarse 
bread  formed  the  staple  diet  of  primitive  man  in  the 
neolithic  age. 

In  the  action  of  mastication  the  two  jaws  were  placed 
one  above  the  other  in  such  a  way  that  the  incisors  of  the 
upper  and  lower  jaws  corresponded  exactly  and  did  not 
cross.  It  appears  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  ate  in  this 
manner,  as  the  modern  Esquimaux  and  the  Greenlanders 
still  do. 

The  primitive  European  races  shared  an  advantage  still 
possessed  by  savage  American  tribes  in  that  their  teeth 
were  sometimes  worn  away  even  to  the  root  without  de- 
caying. At  least  this  has  been  observed  to  be  the  case 
in  a  great  number  of  human  jawbones  discovered  in  the 
caves  of  France  and  Belgium.  However,  there  are  many 
exceptions  to  this  rule. 

We  must  devote  a  few  lines  to  the  subject  of  fermented 
drinks.  The  dogwood  berries  found  in  the  lake  of  Fimon, 
near  Varese,  by  M.  Lioy  led  this  naturalist  to  believe  that 
this  fruit  may  have  been  employed  in  the  manufiicture  of 
some  fermented  liquor.  M.  Gabriel  de  ^lortillet  supposes 
that  raspberries  and  blackberries  may  have  served  the  same 
purpose.  If  it  is  true  that  grapes  have  been  discovered  in 
the  terremares  of  Parmesan,  the  vine,  and  consequently 
wine,  were  known  to  us  at  a  far  earlier  date  than  the  time 
of  the  patriarch  Noah.  The  fruit  of  the  blackthorn  may 
have  been  used  to  make  a  kind  of  sour  wine  similar  to  that 
still  drunk  in  Lorraine.  We  know  that  the  taste  of  man 
for  fermented  liquors  dates  from  the  remotest  ages. 

The  divine  drink  of  the  Hindus,  called  soma,  was  ob- 
10 


206  PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

tained  by  extracting  the  sap  of  the  Sarcostemma  viminale, 
or  the  Asclepias  acida.  The  Greeks  had  their  ambrosia, 
the  Scandinavians  their  adhroiir,  the  Celtiberians  their 
hydroonel,  the  Germans  their  cervoise  (the  beer  of  modern 
times).  Lastly,  the  nomadic  Tartar  tribes  drink  the 
koumis,  an  intoxicating  liquor  extracted  from  mare's 
milk.  The  Indian  tribes  of  South  America  have  the 
chicha,  a  species  of  beer  made  from  maize.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  the  isles  of  Tonga,  or  of  the  Friendly  Isles, 
delight  in  the  Icava,  the  sap  of  a  kind  of  pepper  {Pipe^^ 
"methysticurri),  mixed  with  the  saliva  of  those  who  prepare 
it.  And  we  ourselves,  the  most  civilised  of  nations,  we 
burn  our  stomachs  by  introducing  into  them  those  liquors 
which  at  once  inflame  and  stupefy  our  brains,  and  which 
bear  the  names  of  absinthe  and  brandy,  more  aptly  termed 
by  the  peasants  of  Languedoc,  aigue  arden,  or  burning 
water,  and  by  the  Red  Indians,  ^reu'a^er. 

III.    CLOTHING. 

In  hot  countries  the  need  of  clothing  yields  to  the 
desire  of  ornament :  in  cold  climates,  on  the  other 
hand,  this  need  is  real  and  imperious.  Certain  modern 
savage  tribes  go  completely  naked  ;  the  chiefs  alone  wear 
a  scrap  of  matting,  or  a  belt  coloured  with  bright  and 
varied  hues.  Others,  such  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mar- 
quesas Isles,  content  themselves  with  tattooing  the  body  ; 
others  again,  the  Andaman  islanders,  cover  themselves 
with  a  coating  of  mud ;  others,  like  the  Hottentots,  make 
belts  and  boots  out  of  the  uncleaned  intestines  of  the  ox 
and  the  sheep.  The  Lapps,  the  Samoyeds,  and  the  Es- 
quimaux of  to-day  are  wrapped  in  thick  furs.  This  must 
have  been  the  dress  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  Europe 
during  the  glacial  period.  The  dwellers  in  caves,  and 
even  the  inhabitants  of  the  lake  cities,  used  the  skins  of 
wild  beasts,  or  the  wool  of  sheep  and  goats,  as  a  protection 
from  cold,  for  the  builders  of  the  lake  dwellings  espe- 
cially had  certainly  learnt  the  art  of  domesticating  these 
animals. 

The  skins  were  fastened  by  pins  or  by  buttons  of  baked 


CLOTHING   AND   ORNAMENTS.  207 

cl:iy  or  bone,  and  sevrn,  at  least  in  the  reindeer  nge,  by 
needles,  whose  workmanship  is  truly  marvellous  when  we 
remember  that  they  were  manufaetured  solely  with  flint 
knives  and  drills.  Tendons  split  into  filaments  more  or 
less  flne,  or  thread  made  from  the  fibres  of  flax  or  from 
the  bark  of  trees,  were  employed  in  sewing.  PVagments 
of  coarse  tissues  found  at  Wangen  and  Kobenhausen  pro- 
bably formed  part  of  some  garment. 

Amonsf  the  articles  found  in  the  above-mentioned 
places  was  a  piece  of  leather  perfectly  preserved,  which 
proves  that  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  Eastern  Switzer- 
land were  acquainted  with  the  first  principles  of  tanning. 
But  their  mode  of  preparing  the  skins,  and  the  ingredients 
they  used  in  tanning,  are  unknown  to  us,  nor  are  we  likely 
at  present  to  be  better  informed  on  the  subject. 

We  are  boimd  to  say,  in  praise  of  the  good  sense  of  our 
ancestresses  of  the  caves  and  lake  dwellings,  that  nowhere 
has  any  trace  been  found  of  the  stays  adopted  by  the 
civilised  woman  of  modern  times,  which  interfere  with 
and  prevent  the  free  play  of  the  most  important  organs  in 
the  body  ;  and  of  which  the  young  Roman  girls  already 
endeavoured  to  justify  the  use  by  the  end  they  desired  to 
attain,  that  is,  the  slender  grace  of  reeds. 

IV.    ORNAMENTS  AND   JEWELS. 

Theophile  Gautier  says  somewhere  :  '  The  ideal  tor- 
ments even  the  rudest  natures.  The  savage  who  tattoos 
his  body,  or  plasters  it  with  red  or  blue  paint,  who  passes 
a  fishbone  through  his  nostrils,  is  acting  in  obedience  to 
a  confused  sense  of  beauty.  He  seeks  something  beyond 
what  actually  is ;  guided  by  an  obscure  notion  of  art,  he 
endeavours  to  perfect  his  type.  The  taste  for  ornament 
distinguishes  man  from  the  brute  more  clearly  than  any 
other  peculiarity  ;  no  deg  ever  thought  of  putting  rings 
into  his  ears,  while  the  stupid  Papuans,  who  eat  clay  and 
earthworms,  manufacture  these  ornaments  from  shells 
and  coloured  berries.'  From  the  stone  age  onwards,  and 
more  especially  from  the  age  of  polished  stone,  the  list  of 
ornaments  is  almost  complete,  so  natural  to  man  is  the 


208 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


taste  for  adornment,  still  more  so  perhaps  to  woman,  to 
whom  coquetry  often  lends  a  further  charm.  But  to  be 
just,  it  must  be  owned  that  many  men  are  women  in  this 
respect,  as  our  modern  dandies  sufficiently  show ;  also  the 
ornaments  of  feathers,  coral,  shells,  glass,  stone,  wood, 
and  bone  worn  by  savage  tribes,  and  even  by  self-styled 
civilised  nations. 

In  the  caves,  the  dolmens,  and  the  tumuli,  and  in  the 
lake  dwellings  of  the  ante -metallic  period,  we  find  neck- 


FiGS.  74,  75.  Jet  beads  found  in  two  Yorkshire  barrows. 
(After  Evans.) 

laces  made  from  the  teeth  of  the  dog,  the  wolf,  the 
chamois,  the  reindeer,  and  even  of  the  ox  and  the  horse. 
Others  made  of  discs  of  the  shell  of  the  queen  {CarcUmn 
edule),^  of  various  kinds  of  sea  shells  (iiatica,  cypixea,  lltto- 
rina,  &c.),  some  of  which  belong  to  species  still  living  at  the 
time  when  they  were  perforated  for  the  passage  of  the  cord 
on  which  they  were  strung.     Others,  such  as  those  found 

*  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note  that  the  practice  of  making  necklaces  of 
discs  of  the  cardium  wns  continued  without  interruption  from  the 
paheolithic  a^re  down  to  the  age  of  bronze,  and  perlmps  even  later.  In 
our  day  the  savage  trib^-s  of  New  Caledonia  make  tlieraselves  bracelets 
with  perforated  discs,  arranged  in  several  rows,  taken  from  the  thick 
shell  of  various  salt-water  molluscs. 


EARLY   TRINKETS.  209 

ill  Perigord,  had  long  been  more  or  less  fossilised,  but 
were  still  very  solid,  and  had  been  carried  from  the  shell 
deposits  of  Touraine  to  the  districts  where  they  now  lie 
(Cyprcva  ivjrum^  pectuncidus  ;  fjlycimeris,  area).  But 
the  tinest  necklaces  are  made  of  jet  alone,  or  of  jet  and 
ivory  (tigs.  74  and  75). 

Lastly,  the  Coscinospora  glohularU^  cut  into  discs 
in  every  respect  similar  to  those  found  in  the  ruins  of 
Khorsabad  in  Nineveh,  entered  also  into  the  manu- 
facture of  necklaces.  The  terehratulcB  and  the  ammonites 
of  the  secondary  beds  have  been  also  used  as  ornaments. 
Amber,  jet,  calla'is,^  flint,  slate,  marble,  hardened  clay, 
bone,  wood,  &c.,  were  adopted  to  make  pendants  both  be- 
fore and  after  the  discovery  of  bronze.  Bracelets,  rings, 
bangles,^  and  buttons,  of  varied  and  graceful  forms  and 
difterent  materials,  pins  and  hair  pins  almost  exactly 
similar  to  those  now  used,  pendants  of  elegant  shapes,  and 
lastly,  combs  made  of  yew-wood,  complete  the  lit>t  of  orna- 
ments. It  is  extremely  probable,  if  not  certain,  that 
flint  arrow  heads  of  very  delicate  workmanship,  which 
^DI.  Cazalis  and  Cartailhac  dug  out  of  the  dolmens  of  the 
departments  of  Gard  and  Aveyron,  were  only  used  as 
amulets  or  ornaments. 

As  to  the  shells  of  living  or  fossil  species,  they  were 
employed  not  only  in  the  manufacture  of  necklaces,  brace- 
lets, and  rings,  but  also  to  adorn  bands  for  the  head,  or 
even  the  clothes  themselves,  as  we  saw  was  the  case  among 
the  cave-dwellers  of  Mentone  and  Laugerie  Basse. 

If  space  allowed  us  to  speak  of  the  various  ornaments 
in  use  in  Europe  during  the  ages  of  bronze  and  iron,  we 
should  find  that  they  oiler  the  most  varied  forms,  the 
most  graceful  types,  and  possess  the  most  perfect  finish 
and  delicacy.  At  the  last  Prehistoric  Congress  held  at 
l^ologna  we  were  filled  with  surprise  and  admiration  by 
the  rich  collection  of  the  Chevalier  Aria.     Modern  art 

'  A  kind  of  liirht  grreen  turquoise  found  occasionally  in  the  dolmens 
of  Morbihan,  and  even  in  th'  se  of  Provence, 

-  Modern  art  has  been  inspired  from  some  of  these  models,  as  a 
gluiice  at  ihe  windows  of  the  jewellers  of  to-day  will  sutliciently  show. 


210  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATIO::^. 

would  doubtless  find  in  it  more  than  one  model  worthy  of 
imitation :  as  also  among  the  ornaments  excavated  from 
the  lakes  of  Switzerland,  Italy,  Savoy,  and  even  from  those 
of  Gamboge.^ 

'  In  a  recently  published  paper,  *  Vage  de  la  pierre  polie  et  du 
hron:e  au  CamhodQe,  Dr.  Noulet  has  represented  among  the  stone 
ornaments,  large  rings  with  wide  fiat  edges  which  were  used  as  bracelets. 
Th-se  rings  both  in  shape  and  measurements,  resemble  those  described 
by  Dr.  Marchant  which  were  found  in  sinking  a  well  near  Dijon.  The 
same  remark  applies  to  several  smaller  rings  used  as  bracelets  or  ear- 
rings by  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  Gamboge.  Still  smaller  rings 
were  often  used  with  sea  shells  to  make  ornaments  for  the  ears,  belts, 
and  necklaces. 


CHAPTER  IT. 

INDUSTRY. 

Z.    METHODS    EMPLOYED    IN"    THE    MANUFACTTJKE 
OF     STONE    IMPLEMENTS. 

The  instincts  common  to  all  humanity  necessarily  produce 
a  similarity  of  results  when  men  are  subjected  to  the 
same  needs  and  placed  in  the  same  circumstances.  We 
must  therefore  have  recourse  to  the  methods  actually 
employed  by  modern  savages  in  the  production  of  their 
tools,  in  order  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  manner  in 
which  primitive  man  was  accustomed  to  carve  flints  or 
other  stones.^  We  give  the  account  of  the  process  em- 
ployed by  the  Eed  Indians  of  California  in  the  manufacture 
of  their  stone  arrow  heads  as  observed  by  an  eye-witness, 
M.  Cabot,  and  quoted  by  Sir  Charles  Lyell. 

Seated  on  the  ground  and  holding  a  stone  anvil  on  his 
knees,  the  workman  begins  by  breaking  in  two  a  pebble 
obsidian  by  a  blow  with  his  agate  chisel.  Then  with  a 
second  blow  he  detaches  from  one  of  the  halves  a  fragment 
about  an  inch  in  thickness.  Holding  this  splinter  on  the 
anvil  between  the  thumb  and  first  linger  of  the  left  hand, 
he  strikes  a  series  of  blows,  each  of  which  breaks  otf  smaller 
and  smaller  fragments  until  the  weapon  is  reduced  to  the 

*  Although  flint  in  its  natural  condition  is  extremely  hard,  it  some- 
times, if  it  lies  long  enough  in  a  permeable  ?oil,  undergoes  so  great  a 
change  as  to  permit  of  its  being  cut  with  a  steel  knife.  This  change  in 
the  hardness  of  certain  flints  is  due,  according  to  M.  l^Iiiller,  of  Poictiers, 
to  their  chemical  composition.  They  contain  two  kinds  of  silica, 
one  white  and  insoluble  by  water,  the  other  transparent  like  horn,  and 
easily  dissolved.  This  latter  naturally  disappears  in  consequence  of  the 
intiltration  of  water,  and  the  white  silica  persists  in  a  much  divided 
state,  and  the  molecules  which  enter  into  its  composition  are  separated 
with  ease. — Evans. 


212  PELAIITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

desired  form.  Such  is  the  skill  of  the  workman  that 
about  an  hour  is  sufficient  for  the  manufacture  of  .an 
obsidian  arrow-head. 

According  to  Captain  Belcher,  the  modern  Esquimaux 
employ  a  process  different  to  that  described  above,  but 
which  leads  to  the  same  result.  It  seems  that  strong  and 
well-directed  pressure  applied  to  the  stone  is  sufficient  to 
detach  splinters  from  it  and  give  it  the  desired  shape. 
It  appears  from  the  account  of  the  historian  Torquemada, 
that  the  ancient  Aztecs  employed  a  similar  process.  Sir 
John  Evans  tells  us  that  the  Mexican  Indians,  in  order  to 
make  their  obsidian  razors,  which  are  nearly  as  sharp  as 
our  steel  ones,  fix  a  piece  of  the  above-mentioned  rock 
between  their  feet,  and  press  it  forcibly  by  means  of  a 
hard  wooden  stake  applied  against  the  chest,  and  thus 
break  from  it  fragments  suited  to  their  purpose. 

On  the  other  hand,  M.  Courtes,  member  of  the  French 
Scientific  Commission  of  Mexico,  and  M.  Chabot,  maintain 
that  the  Aztecs,  in  making  their  obsidian  razors,  begin  by 
shaping  the  rock  near  the  quarry  whence  it  was  taken. 
Then  after  having  given  to  it  the  form  of  a  prism  termi- 
nated at  one  extremity  by  a  blunt  point,  at  the  other  a 
flat  surface,  the  workman  takes  this  prism  in  the  left  hand, 
and  pressing  it  against  some  resisting  surface,  strikes  it 
at  first  with  light  blows,  gradually  increasing  them  in  force 
until  at  last  he  obtains  splinters  as  sharp  as  razors,  and 
destined  to  serve  the  same  purpose. 

For  the  rest,  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  both  me- 
thods, pressure  and  percussion,  were  not  employed  by  the 
Aztecs,  and  even  by  the  European  workmen  of  the  ear- 
liest stone  age.  Everything,  however,  leads  us  to  believe 
that  it  was  principally  by  means  of  the  hammer  that 
the  artificers  of  Abbeville,  Perigord,  and  other  places 
fashioned  their  rude  instruments.  It  is  certain  that  by 
striking  a  nucleus  of  flint  with  a  pebble,  splinters  similar 
to  those  found  in  the  diluvium  may  be  obtained  with  a 
little  skill.  Moreover,  by  means  of  a  piece  of  elk's  horn, 
or  of  hard  wood  fastened  to  a  stick,  Sir  John  Evans  has 


ISQUIMAUX   DirLEMhNTS. 


213 


succeeded  in  carving  these  splinters,  just  as  the  North 
American  Indians  shape  their  tlint  arrow  heads. 

The  instrument  employed  at  the  present  day  by  the 
Esquimaux  in  the  manufacture  of  flint  weapons  has  received 
the  name  of  avroiu-jiaker.  It  consists  of  a  piece  of  rein- 
deer horn,  dovetailed  into  a  handle  of  wood  or  fossil  ivory, 
and  kept  in  place  by  means  of  leathern  thongs  or  plaited 
tendons  (tigs.  76  and  77),  still  fresh  when  they  are  bound 
on,  that  as  they  shrink  in  process  of  drying  the  fastening 
may  be  rendered  the  more  secure.^ 

I  quote  this  description,  although  I  must  confess  to 
beinu:  unable   to  form  from  it  a  very  clear  idea  of  the 


FlOS.    70.    77.    ESQT'IMAI'X     ARFOW-FLAKFR     (HALF    NATURAT.   Si;iE),    IX   THE 

cui. LECTION  OF  Mr.  Christy.    Back  and  front  views.    (After  Evans.) 


exact  manner  in  which  the  Esquimaux  workman  arrived  at 
the  desired  result.  1  might  say  the  same  of  most  of  the 
accounts  given  by  travellers  who  have  made  a  longer  or 


shorter  stay 


the    half-civilised    or    savage    tribes 


'  The  hench  on  which  the  arrow  hearls  are  made  is  said  to  consist 
of  a  lof'  of  wood,  in  wliich  a  spoon-shaped  canity  is  cut ;  over  this  the 
flake  of  chert  is  placed,  and  then,  by  prossint?  the  '  arrow-flaker '  gently 
along  tlie  margin  vertically,  first  on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other,  as 
one  would  set  a  saw.  alternate  fragments  are  splintered  off,  until  ihe 
ohit'ct  thus  properly  outlinpd  presents  the  spear  or  arrow  head  form, 
with  two  cutting-  serrated  sides.— Evans.  The  Anciriif^Stunc  Impkinods, 
M'eajMOis,  and  Ornaments  of  Great  JJi-ituiit,  p.  35,  1872. 


214  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

whose  manners  and  customs  they  describe.  Hence  a  want 
of  precision  in  our  ideas ;  hence  that  uncertainty  to  which 
Sir  John  Evans  himself  honestly  owns,  although  he  has 
made  a  special  study  of  the  subject  which  now  occupies 
our  attention.  If  in  spite  of  personal  experience  he  is 
still  in  doubt  as  to  many  of  the  processes  employed  by 
tribes  who  are  still  in  an  almost  savage  condition,  how 
much  greater  is  the  difficulty  both  to  him  and  to  us  when 
we  endeavour  to  form  an  accurate  idea  of  the  manner  in 
which  primitive  man  carved,  sawed,  and  perforated  flints 
or  any  other  hard  stone. 

How,  for  instance,  did  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Den- 
mark obtain  the  beautiful  and  delicately-worked  daggers 
which  excite  the  admiration  of  those  who  have  had  the  good 
fortune  to  see  them  in  the  rich  museum  of  Copenhagen  ? 
How  did  the  workmen  of  these  primitive  ages  detach 
from  the  flint  nucleus,  solely  with  the  aid  of  a  stone 
hammer,  the  long  knives  of  Pauilhac,  or  the  daggers  of 
the  cave  of  Duruthy  ?  Above  all,  how  were  they  enabled 
to  perforate,  unaided  by  iron  or  bronze,  the  stone  axes 
and  hammers  of  which  the  hole  for  the  handle  is  a 
hitherto  almost  unexplained  enigma.  We  shall  endeavour 
to  give  the  clue  presently. 

As  to  the  polish,  it  is  easy  to  understand  and  by  no 
means  difficult  of  execution.  A  slab  or  fixed  grindstone 
of  more  or  less  close-grained  sandstone,  water,  and  coarse 
sand,  were  all  that  was  needed  for  this  operation.  These 
polishing  stones  always  present  grooves  or  circular  hollows 
in  which  could  be  polished  the  convex  surface  of  axes 
or  gouges,  and  sometimes  also  rounded  protuberances, 
which  were  doubtless  used  for  the  concave  surface  of  the 
latter. 

The  flint  saw,  whose  action  was  quickened  and  ren- 
dered more  energetic  by  some  mechanical  process  hitherto 
little  known  to  us,  detached  pieces  of  rock  used  for  the 
manufacture  of  hammers  or  axes.  Sand  moistened  with 
water  was  often  used  to  render  the  operation  more  rapid. 
But  the  comparatively  small  size  and  fragility  of  the  saws 
which  have  come  down  to  us,  render  it  difficult  to  under- 


MECHANICAL   TROCESSES   EMrLOYED.  215 

stand  their  real  efficacy.      We  pass  on  to  consider  the 
borino^  of  flint  and  bone. 

The  holes  destined  to  receive  the  handle  of  the  stone 
hammers  and  axes,  those  perforated  in  the  ivory  discs,  in 
wands  of  office  made  of  reindeer  horn,  in  bone  needles, 
in  teeth  and  shells  for  necklaces,  and  even  in  the  skulls 
of  the  dead  and  living  subject,  naturally  excite  enquiry 
into  the  means  employed  by  man  to  pierce  them  when 
he  was  still  unprovided  with  any  implements  but  those 
of  flint. 

This  problem  has  been  more  than  once  propounded, 
but  has  not  hitherto  been  satisfactorily  resolved,  as  I  pro- 
pose to  show  by  the  following  details. 

The  perforation  of  the  eyes  in  bone  needles  presents 
no  serious  difficulty,  jNIons.  Ed.  Lartet  succeeding  in 
piercing  with  a  flint  drill,  found  in  one  of  the  caves  of 
l*erigord,  a  hole  exactly  resembling  those  of  the  bone 
needles  of  the  reindeer  age.  By  the  same  process,  ren- 
dered easier  by  the  addition  of  a  little  water,  Sir  John 
Evans  obtained  round  and  regular  holes  in  stag's  horn  and 
wood. 

By  boring  alternately  the  two  opposite  surfaces  of 
an  axe  of  hard  stone,  such  as  diorite,  jade,  serpentine, 
with  a  drill  to  which  a  turn  of  the  wrist  imparts  a 
circular  movement,  two  conical  holes  may  be  obtained 
of  which  the  apices  meet.  This  form  frequently  occurs 
upon  the  polished  axes,  but  two  cylindrical  plugs,  still 
adhering  to  the  bottom  of  the  hole  and  smTOunded  by  a 
circular  groove,  are  not  uncommonly  observed  on  the 
axes  of  which  the  perforation  remains  unfinished.  It  is 
difficult  to  explain  the  presence  of  these  plugs  without 
supposing  the  use  of  a  metal  point  or  tube  moved  round 
them  in  a  circle.  In  this  case  the  axes  in  question  were 
necessarily  pierced  during  the  age  of  bronze,  and  do  not 
enter  into  the  scope  of  this  work.  They  would,  however, 
belong  to  the  list  of  instruments  of  the  neolithic  age,  if, 
as  Dr.  Keller  and  Sir  John  Evans  maintain  and  have 
proved,  the  same  result  is  obtainable  by  giving  a  circular 
motion   to  a  fragment  of  cow's  horn  or  a  piece  of  elder 


216  PRIMITIVE    CIVILISATION. 

wood,  and  sprinkling  at  intervals  the  stone  which  it  is  de- 
sired to  perforate  with  fine  sand  and  water. 

However,  Sir  John  Evans  owns  that  in  his  experiments 
with  the  stick  of  elder  wood  he  has  seen  the  sand  accumu- 
late in  the  hollow  of  the  stem  and  scratch  the  summit  of 
the  central  plug.  We  cannot  therefore  be  said  to  have 
yet  arrived  at  a  completely  satisfactory  explanation  of  the 
central  plug  or  nut  often  found  upon  those  polished  axes 
of  which  the  boring  has  never  l:)cen  completed. 

A  fact  which  surprises  even  the  most  superficial  ob- 
server is  the  almost  perfect  resemblance  presented  by  the 
various  types  of  stone  weapons  and  tools,  whatever  be  the 
locality  in  which  they  occur,  and  to  whatever  period  of 
the  stone  age  they  belong.  Moreover,  these  weapons  and 
tools,  of  such  widely  different  epochs  and  districts,  offer  the 
closest  analogies  with  those  of  certain  modern  nations,  such 
as  the  Esquimaux,  the  Australians,  the  New  Zealanders, 
the  New  Caledonians,  &c.,  which  still  remain  in  a  savage 
condition  not  far  removed  from  that  of  our  ancestors. 
This  is  an  evident  proof  that,  impelled  by  the  same  needs, 
guided  by  the  same  instincts,  surrounded  by  the  same 
circumstances,  man  acts  in  the  same  manner  in  all  times 
and  in  every  place,  and  employs  very  similar  methods. 

A  glance,  however  cursory,  at  the  products  of  the  in- 
dustry of  the  stone  age,  is  sufficient  to  discover  a  marked 
progress  from  the  beginning  of  this  period  to  its  termination. 
In  the  earliest  periods  flints  and  other  hard  rocks  were  ex- 
clusively employed  in  the  manufacture  of  weapons  of  war, 
hunting  implements,  and  tools ;  the  axes  were  never  pierced 
for  the  introduction  of  a  handle.  During  the  reindeer  age 
the  various  articles  show  more  care  in  the  workmanship, 
but  the  axes  still  remain  unperforated  ;  bone  especially  is 
skilfully  wrought,  and  bears  the  marks  of  a  further  pro- 
gress. The  arts  of  design  are  born,  and  from  the  very 
first  betray  a  firmness  of  hand  which  excites  our  wonder 
and  even  our  admiration.  With  tlie  neolithic  period 
polish  begins  ;  the  work  in  stone  and  wood  becomes  ever 
more  perfect.  The  hole  which  is  still  rare  in  the  axes  of 
this  epoch  occurs  frequently  in  those  of  the  age  of  bronze, 


RKLIGIOUS    USES   OF   FLINTS.  217 

whose  orracefiil  sliapes  resemble  those  of  iron  axes,  to  which 
they  loiii,^  served  as  models.  Industrial  progress  is  still 
more  a])parent  in  the  iron  age.  Here  we  arrive  at  the 
threshold  of  history,  but  the  nature  and  purpose  of  this 
work  forbid  us  to  cross  it.  '  However  imperfect  they  may 
appear  when  compared  with  the  great  works  of  modern 
artists,  we  must  not  despise  the  first  attempts  of  our 
fathers.  If  they  had  not  made  them,  or  if  they  had  not 
persevered  in  their  eftbrts,  we  should  have  neither  our 
towns,  nor  our  palaces,  nor  the  works  of  art  which  we 
admire  therein.  He  who  struck  one  pebble  against 
another  to  give  it  a  regular  form,  gave  the  first  blow  of 
the  chisel  which  made  the  Minerva  and  the  friezes  of  the 
Parthenon.'     (Boucher  de  Perthes.) 

II.    KELIGIOUS   AND    SUPERSTITIOUS  USES   OF    THE 
FLINTS. 

Styled  Kspavvia,  ceraunice  or  lightning  stones,  by 
Greek  and  Roman  antiquity,  and  still  known  under  similar 
names  to  various  modern  peoples,  the  carved  fiints  are 
called  in  Picardy  langue  d'coa  or  cats'  tongues,  on  account 
of  a  real  or  supposed  resemblance  between  the  flints  and 
the  tongue  of  that  animal. 

In  certain  provinces  of  Italy  (the  Abruzzi)  they  are 
called  saette,  arrows,  or  lingue  di  San  Paolo,  tongues  of 
St.  Paul,  and  the  peasants  regard  them  with  such  venera- 
tion, that  when  they  happen  to  find  one  they  fall  on  their 
knees  before  it  and  touch  it  with  the  tongue.  Some 
families  hand  down  these  miraculous  stones  from  father  to 
son  as  a  precious  legacy,  and  mothers  hang  them  on  their 
children's  necks  with  medals  of  saints  and  madonnas, 
gifted  with  yet  greater  virtue  than  the  stones  from 
heaven.' 

Aldrovarde  gives  to  the  flint  arrow-heads  the  name  of 
qlossopetra,  from  their  resemblance  to  a  human  tongue. 
Pliny  believed  that  they  fell  from  heaven  during  the 
eclipses  of  the  moon,  and  he  says  that  '  sorcerers  believe 
that  they  are  of  great  service  to  those  who  pay  court  to 
'  Cappellini,  L\-ta  della  pictra  Jiellc  ralle  della  Vibrata. 


218  PRIMITIVE   CIVILIFATION. 

fair  ladies.'  ^  The  Japanese  call  them  sometimes  axes  of 
the  fox,  that  animal  being  to  them  the  symbol  of  the  evil 
npirit,  or  else  axes  of  Tengu,  the  guardian  of  heaven. 
Arrows  of  the  Elfs  or  Erles  (in  Gaelic  sciat  hee)  is  another 
name  for  these  flint  weapons,  recalling  the  labours  of  the 
Scotch  elves  and  the  German  gnomes,  whose  king  inspired 
Goethe  with  one  of  his  best  known  ballads  (Erlenkonig). 
Lastly,  the  purgatory  hammers  are,  according  to  a  legend 
still  popular  at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  the  very  ham- 
mers used  by  the  dead  for  knocking  at  the  gates  of 
Purgatory. 

In  our  own  day,  and  not  only  in  Italy  but  also  in  the 
heart  of  our  most  civilised  provinces,  the  flint  axes  and 
arrow-heads  are  considered  as  a  sure  protection  against 
lightning,  also  against  epidemics  and  cattle  disease. 

The  tongues  of  sheep  bells  are  made  from  them,  and 
amulets  which  are  highly  prized.  They  are  built  into  the 
walls,  placed  on  the  threshold  of  stables,  in  children's 
cradles,  in  the  beds  of  women  in  travail,  &c.  &c.  All  the  ar- 
guments in  the  world  would  not  shake  the  belief  of  a  Breton 
peasant,  that  the  unoensoiirars,  or  lightning  stones,  when 
thrown  into  a  well,  purify  the  water,  or  that  boiled  in  the 
drink  of  diseased  sheep  they  render  the  cure  infallible. 
In  Cornwall  they  are  a  sovereign  remedy  for  rheumatism, 
elsewhere  for  ophthalmia,  pain  in  the  side,  hernia,  scurf  of 
the  head,  &c.  Ground  to  powder  and  swallowed  in  that 
form,  they  render  the  believer  invulnerable,  so  deeply  is 
superstition  implanted  in  the  human  heart,  and  so  hard  it 
is  to  extirpate  it. 

And  these  superstitions  are  of  the  greatest  antiquity. 
The  Hebrews  of  the  time  of  Moses,  and  probably  also 
their  remotest  ancestors,  are  said  to  have  employed  them 
in  the  ceremony  of  circumcision,  and  often  even  to 
slaughter  the  animals  destined  for  food.  We  know  the 
absurd  and  abominable  use  which  the  priests  of  Cybele 
made  on  their  own  persons  of  the  religiosa  silex,  sacred 
to  the  goddess.  Among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the 
stone  arrow-heads  sometimes  adorned  the  diadems  of  their 
'   Hist.  Nat.  lib.  xxxvii.  cap.  x. 


RKLIGIOUS   U«ES   OF  FLINTS.  219 

gods.  Jupiter  himself  was  worshipped  under  tlie  form  of 
a  stone  and  the  name  of  Jupitf^r  JaijAs,  In  the  Capitol 
he  was  represented  holding  in  his  hand  a  flint,  the  syml)ol 
of  the  lightning  {Lapis  CapitoUnus).  M.  de  Longperrier 
informs  us  that  Jupiter  Labrandeus  and  Bacchus  were 
worshipped  in  the  form  of  an  axe,  ttsXskvs.  On  the  coins 
struck  at  Cyprus,  the  Venus  of  Paphos  herself  is  repre- 
sented by  the  figure  of  a  stone  in  the  form  of  a  cone. 
Sacred  stones,  intended  to  be  used  in  the  sacrifices,  were 
religiously  preserved  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius, 
and  the  feciales  carried  them  to  strike  the  victims 
solemnly  offered  up  to  ratify  the  treaties  concluded  be- 
tween the  conquerors  and  the  conquered.  A  similar 
custom  is  still  practised,  according  to  Klemm,  on  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa,  when  the  god  Gimawond,  splitting 
the  clouds  with  a  trumpet  sound,  deigns  once  a  year  to 
visit  the  temple  consecrated  to  him.  The  ox  which  is 
offered  up  to  him  is  killed  with  a  blow  from  a  sharp 
stone  and  not  with  a  metal  knife.  Even  at  the  time 
of  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  that  is  when  they  were  at  the 
height  of  their  civilisation,  the  priests  of  that  country 
disembowelled  the  victim  immolated  to  their  fierce  divini- 
ties with  sharp  fragments  of  obsidian. 

M.  Em.  Cartailhac  cites  the  account  of  Olaus  Magnus 
of  the  custom  practised  by  the  ancient  Goths  at  marriage 
ceremonies.  They  used  to  strike  flint  and  steel  together 
over  the  heads  of  the  bride  and  bridegroom  to  symbolise 
the  manner  in  which  the  life  which  lies  hidden  in  the  two 
sexes  is  manifested  and  multiplied  by  love,  just  as  the 
latent  fire  of  flint  is  produced  by  percussion. 

The  Catholic  Church  herself,  at  least  in  certain  coun- 
tries which  are  faithful  to  ancient  customs,  has  recourse 
to  flint  and  steel  to  kindle  a  new  fire  on  Easter  Eve. 
'  Ignis  de  lapide  excvtitiir  et  cum  eo  accendicntur  car- 
bones,''  are  the  words  of  the  liturgy. 

The  Japanese  preserve  the  carved  flints  religiously  in 
their  temples,  and  regard  them  as  the  primitive  weapons 
of  the  kumis,  unbodied  spirits  who  were  the  earliest  in- 
habitants of  the  country. 


220  PEDIITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

These  stones  figure  also  in  the  funeral  ceremonies  of 
many  nations.  The  Egyptians  employed  them  to  dis- 
embowel the  dead  previous  to  embalming  the  body. 
They  are  found  in  the  ancient  Peruvian  tombs,  in  those 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley,^  and  also  in  the  sepulchres  of 
Egypt  and  Etruria.  They  occur  likewise  in  the  burial 
caves  of  prehistoric  ages,  in  the  dolmens,  the  tumuli,  and 
even  in  the  tombs  belonging  to  a  more  recent  epoch. 
They  are  sometimes  found  alone,  sometimes  in  company 
with  metal  objects,  and  with  other  offerings  to  the  dead 
whose  remains  are  enclosed  in  the  tomb. 

Lastly,  the  practice  of  opening  the  bodies  of  the  chiefs 
with  an  obsidian  knife  prevailed  among  the  Guanchos  of 
the  Canary  Isles,  as  among  the  Egyptians. 

In  antiquity  and  in  the  middle  ages,  the  formation  of 
flint  axes,  knives,  and  arrow  heads  was  generally  attributed 
to  thunder.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century 
an  equally  irrational  theory  was  propounded.  Some  authors 
declared  that  the  supposed  ceraunice  were  iron  instruments 
turned  to  stone  by  the  lapse  of  time ;  but,  says  Boethius, 
'  the  fable  that  these  are  lightning  darts  is  so  firmly 
established  and  accredited  by  so  many  people,  that  he 
who  would  gainsay  this  opinion  would  be  looked  upon  as  a 
madman.'^ 

Such  was,  and  such  is  still,  the  opinion  generally  pre- 
vailing. Formed  by  lightning  in  the  midst  of  the  clouds, 
the  lapides  fulminis  fall  ready  made  upon  the  earth,  in 
which  they  bury  themselves  more  or  less  profoundly 
from  the  force  of  their  fall — six  feet  say  the  peasants  of 
Aveyron,  sixteen  ells  according  to  those  of  Calabria.  But 
every  year  they  rise  a  foot  or  an  ell  towards  the  surface, 
especially  when  it  thunders,  and  appear  at  last  above 
ground,  usually  after  about  seven  years,  according  to 
some,  at  the  end  of  eighteen  years,  neither  more  nor  less, 

'  M.  Francois  Lenormant  found  in  two  of  the  Cj'clades.  Milo  and 
Santorin,  and  Mr.  Ross  in  the  verj-  early  tombs  "of  Amorgos  and 
Anaphe,  some  fragments  of  obsidian  which  bear  the  mo&t  striking 
resemblance  to  those  of  Mexico. 

2  Quoted  by  Em.  Cartailhac,  I/Age  de  la  Pierre  dam  Irs  souvenirs 
ct  Jes  siqjerstitions 2J02>ulaires,  p.  11. 


FLINTS   USED   AS   AMULETS.  221 

according  to  others.  Then  these  cuorjni  dl  truoni,  or 
C(Hns  of  the  thunder,  are  religiously  collected  and  pre- 
served as  a  precious  talisman  against  lightning.  If  ^vhen 
they  are  suspended  over  the  hearth  by  means  of  a  blue 
thread,  the  latter  does  not  catch  fire,  it  is  a  sure  proof 
that  they  possess  this  preservative  power  in  an  extra- 
ordinary degree. 

We  refer  to  the  paper  of  M.  Em.  Cartailhac  those  of 
our  readers  who  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
curious  theories  by  which  the  learned  contemporaries  of 
Boethius  of  Bort  sought  to  explain  the  formation  of  the 
ceraunice  in  the  bosom  of  the  clouds. 

It  was  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  that 
correct  theories  as  to  the  nature  of  the  so-called  thunder- 
bolts were  propounded  by  ^lercati,  who  considered  them 
to  be  the  weapons  of  a  primitive  people  to  whom  the  use 
of  bronze  and  iron  was  completely  unknown.'  A  little 
kter(1734)  Mahudel  declared  himself  an  adherent  of  this 
belief.  William  Dugdale,  in  his  '  History  of  Warwickshire,' 
and  Bishop  Lyttleton  in  his  '  Observations  upon  the  Stone 
Axes,'  also  owned  to  opinions  similar  to  those  of  Mercati. 

A  few  axes  of  polished  stone,  bearing  Greek  or  Eiuiic 
inscriptions,  were  evidently  worn  as  amulets  by  warriors, 
who,  in  order  to  ensure  their  victory,  hung  them  round 
their  necks  during  the  battle.  Arrow  heads,  mounted  in 
gold  or  silver,  figure  also  as  amulets  in  the  richest  neck- 
laces of  ancient  Etruria.  M.  Cartailhac  has  given  illus- 
trations of  some  magnificent  specimens  in  his  recent  work 
on  '  The  Age  of  Stone '  (see  figs.  31,  32,  33). 

Finally  we  may  remark  that  the  numerous  flints  found 
under  the  circumstances  and  in  the  places  we  have  men- 
tioned prove  that  the  age  of  stone  has  been  universal,  and 
nearly  everywhere  prehistoric.  They  also  bear  witness  to 
that  instinctive  tendency  which  leads  every  people  to 
revere  the  memory  of  its  ancestors,  to  render  some  kind 
of  worship  to  the  articles  they  have  employed,  to  attribute 

■  The  Emperor  Augustus  had  at  least  suspected  the  original  use  of 
the  Hint  weapons,  for  be  stales  ariua  heroum  the  supposed  ceruuniaa 
which  he  found  in  the  bcne-cavcs  of  Capri. 


222  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

to  them  a  divine  origin  and  a  number  of  marvellous  quali- 
ties, and  even  sometimes  to  look  upon  them  as  gods. 

This  Reeling,  in  itself  as  praiseworthy  as  it  is  natural, 
engenders  superstition,  which,  according  to  Tylor,  '  is  only 
the  continuation  of  old  customs  in  the  midst  of  a  new  and 
completely  modified  condition  of  society,  the  persistence 
of  ancient  religious  practices  long  after  those  practices 
have  disappeared  from  the  ordinary  acts  of  life.'  ^ 

III.    'WEAPOlsrS   OF  WAR  AND   OF   THE  CHASE. 

When  we  compare  the  arms  of  primitive  man  with  the 
formidable  engines  of  destruction  which  the  demon  of  war 
has  latterly  invented,  we  are  tempted  to  smile  at  the  sight 
of  these  stone  axes,  these  arrow  heads  of  flint  or  bone,  in 
appearance  so  little  terrible  ;  or  rather  we  are  saddened  ab 
seeing  in  some  sort  the  verification  of  the  inflimous  saying, 
'  Homo  homini  infensus  nasciturS  What  energy,  trouble, 
and  weariness,  wiiat  money,  thought,  and  blood,  does  he 
willingly  spend  in  destruction,  who  can  create  nothing  ! 

The  passions  of  hatred,  amlDition,  and  revenge  were  the 
original  causes  of  war ;  hunger,  perhaps  even  the  satanic 
pleasure  of  killing,  gave  rise  to  hunting.  Our  first  offen- 
sive or  defensive  weapons  were  the  bow,  the  arrow,  the 
javelin,  the  lance,  the  sling,  the  hunting-knife,  the  dagger, 
the  club,  and  the  battle-axe. 

The  bow  has  existed  in  all  times  and  among  all  peoples.^ 
A  branch  of  flexible  wood,  a  string  made  of  tendons,  vege- 
table fibre,  or  a  leathern  thong,  are  the  only  materials 
necessary  to  its  manufacture.  A  fragment  of  hard  stone 
sharpened  to  a  point,  a  pointed  bone,  the  bone  or  tooth  of 
a  fish,  forms  the  essential  part  of  an  arrow,  which  is  com- 

»  Tylor,  Unrh/  Hhtory  of  Manldud,  p.  221. 

2  At  least  tins  is  the  general  opinion.  But  Evans  and  some  other 
writers  maintain  that  the  use  of  the  bow  is  unknown  to  completely 
savage  peoples,  such  as  the  Australians  and  the  Maoris,  and  that  this 
weapon  seems  to  belong  to  a  fairly  advanced  stage  of  civilisation.  But 
he  adds  that  the  use  of  the  bow  in  Europe  dates  ft-om  an  extremely 
remote  epoch,  since  Hint  and  bone  arrow  heads  are  very  common  from 
the  beginning  of  the  reindeer  age.  Remains  of  yew-bows  have  been 
found  in  tlie  lake  city  oi  C  airvaux,  which  belongs  to  the  neolithic  age. 


EARLY   WEArONS. 


223 


pleted  by  a  shaft  of  W(xxl,  cane,  or  reed.     The  lance,  the 
javelin,  anil  the  sling,  the  knife,  the  dagger,  and  the  club, 
are  equally  simple  in  character  ;  all  these  weapons  were 
first  manufactured  from  hard  stone 
or  bone. 

Flint  is  the  stone  most  com- 
monly employed  in  the  countries 
where  it  abounds ;  but  where  it 
is  rare  or  completely  absent  man 
has  supplied  its  place  by  similar 
substances  suitable  to  his  pur- 
pose. Thus  the  primitive  in- 
liabitants  of  the  isle  of  Elba 
employed  for  the  manufacture  of 
their  missile  weapons,  instead  of 
flint,  which  is  wanting  in  their 
country,  common  quartz,  jasper, 
hyalin  quartz,  diorite,  carnelian, 
eurite,  hard  chalk,  and  serpen- 
tine, which  they  found  ready  to 
hand.  They  borrowed  from  France, 
from  Naples,  and  perhaps  from 
Sardinia,  the  fire-bearing  silica, 
and  various  kinds  of  chalcedonian 
silica,  and  of  jasper,  and  even  the 
black  obsidian,  which  is  very  com- 
mon in  Sardinia,  as  ]\I.  Marmora 
has  shown.  Other  tribes  employed 
hornblende,  jade,  and  its  varieties, 
porphyry,  black  basalt,  &c. 

Starting  from  the  mere  splin- 
tered fragment  (fig.  78),  the  flint 
weapons  have  received  the  most 
varied  forms.  Hence,  as  regards 
the  arrow  heads,  for  instance,  the 
numerous  (perhaps  too  numerous) 

types  into  which  they  are  divided  by  men  of  science. 
Thus  they  distinguish  those  which  have  the  form  of  an 
almond,  of  a  laurel  or  olive  leaf  (fig.  79);  others  are  trian- 


Fig.  78.  Danistf  rpltntkhkd 
FLINT.     (Alter  Lubbuck.) 


224 


PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION, 


gular  or  lozenge  shaped,  others  are  more  or  less  barbed  at 
the  base  (figs.  80,  81,  82,  83).  Some  are  furnished  with 
a  peduncle  or  stalk,  with  one  or  two  awricles,  tvings,  or 


Figs.  79,  80,  81.  InisH  arrow  heads.     (After  Lubbock.) 

barhs  (figs.  80  and  81)  ;  others  have  only  the  wings  with- 
out the  peduncle  (fig.  84).  Some  arrows  are  delicately 
carved,  with  serrated  edges,  and  the  workmanship  is  so 


Fig.  82.  Prehistoric 

flint  arrow  tieai). 

(France.) 


Fig.  83.  Modern 

fi-int   arrow  head. 

(Tierra  dol  Fiiego.) 


Fig.  84.   Arrow   head, 

WITH  WIXGS  and  WITH- 
OUT PEDVNCLE. 


perfect  that  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  they  were  made 
without  the  aid  of  metal  tools.     These  grnceful  arrow  heads 


bel 


principally  to  the  neolithic  age,  and  they  are  found 


FLINT   WEAPOXa 


225 


for  the  most  part  in  the  dohiiens  and  burial  caves,  in  com- 
pany with  beautifully  wrought  lance  heads  and  javelins. 

This  g-race  of  form  and  finished  workmanship,  and  the 
considerable  time  which  it  nnist  have  taken  to  make  them, 
give  rise  to  the  supposition  that  they  had  another  use  than 
that  of  projectiles,  which  are  usually  destined  to  serve  but 
once.  Were  they  not  rather  trinkets,  amulets,  ornaments, 
anything  in  fact  but  weapons  for  hunting  or  fighting? 

The  dimensions  of  some  of  those  found  by  Kaffaclli 


Fig.  85.    Axe    of    the    St. 

ACIIEUL  TYPE,  CARVED  ON 
BOTH   SIDES. 


Fig.  86.    Lance    head    of 

THE   MOUSTIEK   TYPE. 


Foresi  in  the  caves  of  Elba,  and  which  were  only  seven  lines 
long  by  four  wide,  confirm  any  dou]:)ts  that  may  arise 
respecting  the  real  use  to  which  these  tiny  arrow  heads 
were  put.  For  the  rest  we  know  that  flints  cut  into  the 
form  of  axes  and  projectile  weapons  figure  later  on  in 
popular  superstitions  and  religious  rites,  and  that  they 
even  adorned  the  diadems  of  kings. 

Other  lance  and  arrcjw  heads,  such  as  those  of  Solntre 


226 


PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


(fig.  18),  much  larger  than  the  preceding,  are  also  dis- 
tinguished by  their  elegance  of  form  and  finish  of 
workmanship,  which  is  the  more  remarkable  that  they 
succeed  immediately  to  the  comparatively  coarse  work  in 
a  completely  different  style,  of  which  the  flints  of  St. 
Acheul  and  Moustier  have  left  numerous  types  (figs.  85 
and  86). 

In  a  few  peat  mosses  only  of  Switzerland  and  Ireland 


Figs.  87,  88.    Arrow    Fig.  89.    Ar-  Fig.  90.  Arrow  Fig.    91.     Arrow 


HEAD  WITH  SHAFT, 
FOUND  IX  A  PEAT 

MARSH  IN  Switzer- 
land.       Seen     in 

PROFILE  AND    FR0:M 

THE  FRONT.    (After 
Evans.) 


ROW    HEAD 
AND  SHAFT 

OF    South 
America. 
(After  Lub- 
bock.) 


WITH  trans- 
verse edge, 
FOUND      WITH 

SHAFT.  (After 
Evans.) 


HEAD,  WITH  BI- 
TUMEN, FROM 
THE    LAKE    CITY 

OF    St.    Aubin, 
Switzerland. 
(After    de   Mor- 
ti:iet.; 


some  flint  arrow  heads  have  been  found  still  attached  to 
the  shaft  (figs.  87  and  88).  Examination  shows  that  these 
had  been  inserted  by  their  peduncle  into  the  stem,  and 
were  fixed  there  by  tendons  or  string  steeped  in  bitumen. 
As  this  same  bitumen  is  also  found  on  some  arrow  heads  of 
the  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland  (fig.  91),  we  may  conclude 


FLINT   WE.VrONS. 


227 


that  these  also  were  fiistened  to  the  shaft  after  the  manner 
adopted  in  the  more  recent  epoch  of  the  peat  mosses.     " 


Fig.  02.  Flint  lance 
HKAi),  (After  Lub- 
bock.) 


1^. 

Fig.  93.  Fmxt 
da(;gkr.  (After 
Lubbock.) 


^U\ 


'-4>:^ 


^^tr^< 


Fig.  9-4,  Flint  dalckr 
-vvith  broken  i'oint. 


It  seems  probable  that  the  heads  of  the  lances  and 
javelins  ^Yere  attached  to  the  shaft  in  the  same  manner, 


228 


PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


and  a  glance  at  the  methods  employed  by  modern  savages 
to  fasten  the  handles  of  their  missiles  renders  it  almost 
certain  (see  fig.  89). 

The  purpose  the  arrows  with  a  transverse  edge  were 
intended  to  serve  has  been  disputed.  Some  suppose  that 
they  were  employed  for  shooting  at  birds,  so  as  to  kill 
them  with  a  shock,  and  avoid  staining  the  plumage  with 
their  blood.  But  a  proof  that  they  were  also  used  in  war 
is  furnished  by  the  presence  of  one  of  these  arrows  in  a 


Fig.  95.  Wooden  harpoon,  barbed  on  one  side.     (After  Broca.) 

human  vertebra,  taken  by  M.  de  Baye  from  a  cave  belong- 
ing to  the  neolithic  age. 

We  need  only  say  a  word  or  two  about  the  flint  dag- 
gers, which  in  size  and  shape  are  so  similar  to  the  lances 
(figs.  92,  93,  94),  and  to  the  larger  knives,  that  they  have 
often  been  confounded  with  them.  In  the  reindeer  age  the 
bone  daggers  were  very  carefully  wrought  and  ornamented 
with  carvings,  of  which  we  shall  presently  give  a  detailed 
description.  In  the  neolithic  age,  and  even  a  little 
earlier,  this  weapon  was  still  further  improved.     Towards 


Fig.  96.  Barbed  bone  arrow.     (Franco,  after  Lubbock.) 

the  end  of  this  period  the  flint  carving  attained  a  degree 
of  finish  which  we  could  hardly  equal  in  our  day  with  all 
our  metal  implements.  Among  the  most  remarkable  of 
these  daggers  we  may  mention  that  found  by  M.  Louis 
Lartet  in  the  cave  of  Sordes,  which  offers  a  striking 
resemblance  to  a  fine  Eg)'ptian  dagger  with  a  wooden 
handle  in  the  Haig  collection  of  the  British  Museum. 

The  reindeer  hunters  made  long  harpoons  and  barbed 
arrows  (fig.  95),  in  the  barbs  of  which  a  little  channel  was 


HUNTING  mrLEMENTS. 


229 


sometimes  hollowed,  destined  it  is  supposed  to  hold  the 
venom  to  poison  the  wound  (tigs.  96  and  97).  It  is  worthy 
of  note  that  the  barbed  arrows  were  only  employed  for 
killing  the  reindeer  or  other  large  animals ; 
little  lx)ne  arrows  in  the  form  of  a  pointed 
cone,  and  without  barbs,  sufficed  for  the 
destruction  of  birds  and  the  smaller  mam- 
malia (see  fig.  98).  The  dagger  gave  the 
death  blow  to  the  dying  animal.  Lastly, 
the  hunting  marker  and  the  whistle  for 
giving  orders  or  for  rallying  the  troop, 
completed  the  equipment  of  the  hunter 


of  the  stone  age. 

The  maces  or  clubs  were  made  of 
angular  stones,  dove-tailed  into  wooden 
handles  or  bound  to  them  by  leathern 
thongs.  Clubs  made  entirely  of  wood  and 
in  a  fair  state  of  preservation  have  been  H  C 

found  under  water.  One  was  found  at 
Glasgow  in  a  primitive  canoe.  The  battle 
axe  was  made  like  the  hatchet  in  ordinary 
use,  which  often  did  duty  for  the  former. 
The  method,  or  rather  methods,  of  fasten- 
ing the  head  to  the  handle  were  the  same 
for  both. 

Great  doubt  still  prevails  as  to  the  use 
of  some  bone  implements  of  the  reindeer 
age  which  ]\DI.  Christy  and  Lartet  have  re- 
presented in  their  'Eeliquiae  Aquitanicse,' 
and  which  they  style  sceptres  or  wands  of 
office  (figs,  99  and  100).  These  instru- 
ments were  perhaps  only  trophies  of  the 
chase,  like  the  carved  horns  of  the  ttims 
among  the  Germans  of  the  time  of  Caesar. 
But  a  comparison  of  these  supposed  tro- 
phies or  marks  of  distinction  with  thepac/b- 
a-mofjan  (fig.  101 ),  the  club  of  the  Cana- 
dian Indians,  inclines  us  to  believe  that  they  were 
weapons  of  the  chase  or  of  war.  Like  the  sceptres  of 
11 


h 


230 


PEDIITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


Perigord,  the  jjack-a-mogan  or  pogamogan  of  tlie  ludians 
of  the  Mackenzie  Kiver  is  made  of  reindeer  horn,  from 
which  all  but  the  first  branch  has  been  previously  re- 
moved. 

Pigorini  has  recently   suggested    that    the    supposed 
wands  of  office  are  allied  to  the  pieces  of  stag's  horn  which 


Fig.  98,  Unbarbed  arrow  of  reindeer  horn,     (After  Broca.) 

the  modern  Sardinians  use  in  the  manufacture  of  the  hinges 
of  their  harness  (fig.  102).  But  a  careful  perusal  of  his 
description  and  of  the  arguments  he  brings  forward  in 
support  of  his  opinion,  has  hitherto  failed  to  convince  me. 
Among  projectile  weapons  we  must  also  reckon  the  stones 
for  slinging  which  were   employed  in  the  chase  and  in 


Fig,  99.  Wand  of 


OFFICE,    WITH  A  SINGLE   HOLE, 

of  its  Size,) 


(Reduced  to  one-third 


war  from  the  earliest  stone  period  down  to  the  beginning 
of  the  iron  age.  Often  confounded  with  the  sinkers  of 
fishing  nets,  the  sling  stones  were  in  all  epochs  merely 
pebbles  more  or  less  polished  and  waterworn  by  rivers  or 
torrents.  It  is  the  general  opinion,  however,  that  flint 
pebbles  rudely  carved  into  somewhat  the  form  of  a  burning 
glass,  found  in  the  Danish  kitchen  middens,  in  England, 


WANDS  OF  OFFICE. 


2'6l 


Fig.  100.  Waxd  of  office  with  foir  holes. 


Fig.  101.  The  togamogan  of  the  Esquimaux  (reduced  to  one-fourth  its 
natural  size.)     (After  Broca.) 


Fic;.  102,  Sardixiax  stag's  horn  hinge.     (After  Pij^oriiii). 

a  a'.  Pieces  of  stap's  horn  cipht  inches  long,  b  b'.  Iron  rings  tlironpli  wliicli  the  thong 
passes.  C,  Metnl  cliain.  unitinp  tlie  two  pieces  of  liorn  wliioh  are  placed  liorizont  lly 
along  the  sides  of  the  horse's  head,    d  d'.  Holes  through  which  the  bridle  is  passed. 


232  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

Scotland,  and  elsewhere,  were  also  stones  for  slinging.^ 
With  regard  to  the  slings  themselves,  they  were  probably 
made  of  a  long  and  narrow  leathern  thong,  or  consisted, 
like  those  of  the  New  Zealanders  and  New  Caledonians, 
of  a  plaited  cord  made  of  bark  fibre  and  wider  in  the 
middle  than  at  the  ends  ;  or,  finally,  they  were  simply  a 
stick  split  at  one  end,  or  bored  with  a  hole  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  stone,  like  those  which  children  play  with. 
Our  conjectures  regarding  the  existence  of  slings  during 
the  neolithic  age,  and  perhaps  in  the  earlier  stone  period, 
are  founded  upon  a  discovery  which  relates  to  a  more  recent 
epoch.  A  sling,  or  rather  the  pocket  of  a  sling,  beauti- 
fully plaited,  and  knitted  on  to  the  portion  of  the  hempen 
cord  which  still  remained  attached  to  it,  was  found  at 
Cortaillod,  in  Switzerland ;  and  although  it  probably  dates 
from  the  age  of  bronze,  and  perhaps  even  from  a  yet 
more  recent  period,  we  feel  called  upon  to  notice  it  here 
as  one  of  the  most  curious  discoveries  which  have  been 
made  in  the  lakes  of  ancient  Helvetia. 

Neither  must  we  leave  unmentioned  the  fire  balls 
found  in  the  Swiss  lakes.  These  consisted  of  a  mixture  of 
coal  and  clay,  which,  after  being  made  red  hot  in  the  fire, 
were  thrown  at  the  dwellings  of  the  enemy.  In  this 
manner  the  Norrii  are  said  to  have  set  fire  to  Caesar's 
camp  ;  and  it  is  thus  that,  long  before  his  time,  a  number 
of  lake  cities  were  several  times  destroyed. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  how,  with  weapons  ap- 
parently so  ineff"ectual,  the  still  savage  inhabitants  of  Scan- 
dinavia, Belgium,  France,  and  Italy  were  enabled  to  hold 
their  own  against  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros,  not  to 
speak  ol  the  cave  bear  and  lion.  However,  we  learn  from 
Herodotus  that  the  Ethiopians  of  Xerxes'  army  destroyed 
elephants,  and  in  modern  times  Bruce  asserts  that  the 
Schangallas  bring  down  the  rhinoceros  with  weapons  as 
slight  as  those  of  primitive  tribes.     Besides,  these  tribes 

*  In  OTir  day,  however,  the  slinging  stones  are  polished  with  the 
greatest  care  by  the  barbarous  tribes  of  New  Zealand,  New  Caledonia, 
&c. 


FISHING   I.MPLEMENTS. 


233 


probably  had  recourse  in  their  adventurous  chase  to  sn;ires 
or  pit.s  covered  with  branches,  simihir  to  those  descrilx'd 
by  Ctcsar,  into  which  they  drove  the  hunted  animals,  and 
then  despatched  them  with  blows  from  a  club,  or  by 
setting  tiie  to  the  branches.     The  hunting  markers  and 


i'lei.  iU3.  IIUNTING  MAitKEi:.     (AftcT  Broca.) 

counting  sticks,  of  which  we  give  illustrations  (figs.  103 
and  104),  deserve  a  passing  mention. 

IV.    FISHING  IMPLEMENTS. 

Primitive  man  was  either  -himter  or  fisher,  and  often 
both  at  once.  As  hunger  and  the  need  of  means  of  defence 
had  inspired  him  with  the  idea  of  the  bow,  the  arrow,  the 
hmce,  the  axe,  and  the  sling,  so  they  led  him  to  the  inven- 
tion of  lish-hooks,  harpoons,   and  lastly   nets.      For   in 


Fig.  101.  CorxTixG  stick.     (After  Broca.) 


certain  of  the  Swiss  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland,  notably 
at  Wangen,  on  the  Lake  of  Constance,  nets  made  with 
considerable  skill  have  been  found,  with  clay  weights  to 
sink  them  in  the  water,  and  even  wooden  floats.  In  the 
Swiss  lakes  also  osier  baskets  are  frequently  found,  and 
fish  hooks  and  harpoons  of  flint,  bone,  or  shell,  are  still 
more  common  ;  f»tliers  which  might  have  been  manufac- 
tured by  the  modern  inhabitants  of  the   Kurile    Islands 


234 


PEIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 


or  of  Greenland  (fig.  105),  have  been  discovered  in  various 
parts  of  Scandinavia,  France,  and  Italy. 

From  the  earliest  times  these  fishing  implements  -^ere 
admirably  suited  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  in- 
tended— that  is  to  say,  they  were  furnished  like  those 
of  modern  times  with  barbs  destined  to  retain  the  hook 
in  the  palate  of  the  fish.  Sven  Nilsson  has  figured  some 
flint  sinkers,  with  a  single  or  double  circular  groove,  very 
finely  polished.  ('  The  Primitive  Inhabitants  of  Scandi- 
navia,' Plate  II.,  figs.  31-35). 

The  harpoon  is  as  useful  in  fishing  as  the  hook  ;  often 
even  it  is  used  in  hunting  birds  and  amphibious  mamma- 
lia, to  impede  them  at  least  in  their  flight,  if  the  vigor- 
ous blow  w^hich  buries  the  weapon  in  theii'  flesh  fails  to 


Fig.  105.  Fish-hook  of  the  Southern  Seas.     (After  Lubbock.) 

strike  a  vital  part.  The  bone  harpoons  of  the  troglodytes 
of  Vezere  are  always  furnished  laterally  with  a  single  row 
of  teeth  or  curved  barbs,  which  distinguishes  them  from 
the  barbed  bone  arrows  with  a  double  row  of  lateral  teeth, 
and  with  which  they  w^ere  for  a  long  time  confounded 
(fig.  96).  The  end  of  a  cord  was  fastened  to  the  harpoon 
round  a  small  protuberance  made  at  the  base  for  that 
purpose,  so  that  the  harpooner  could  detain  it  after  the 
throw.^ 

'  The  bone  harpoons  of  tlie  inhabitants  of  the  Kurile  Islands  closely 
resemV)le  those  of  the  trog-lodyles  of  Dordogne.  Tlie  head  is  sometimes 
moveable,  sometimes  fixed,  and  Ihey  are  provided  with  a  wooden  shaft 
in  which  a  hole  is  pierced  for  the  passage  of  a  leathern  thong  or  of  a 
cord  attached  at  one  end  to  the  shaft,  at  the  other  to  the  point  which 
separates  itself  nat.urally  wlicn  the  animal  is  stiuck.  Lastly,  a  bladder 
fastened  to  the  free  end  of  the  cord  and  floating  on  tlu^  surface  of  the 
water  indicates  the  direction  taken  by  the  animal  in  its  flight. 


TOOLS.  235 

The  caves  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Yezere  contain 
an  immense  quantity  of  the  bones  of  the  sahnon,  a  clear 
proof  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  caves  hooked,  or  rather 
harpooned,  this  tish  in  the  river  near  their  dwellings  and 
in  the  other  streams  of  Perigord.  There  is  no  suthcient 
proof  that  they  were  acquainted  with  the  use  of  the  net. 

V.    TOOLS. 

Tools  are  the  supplementary  organs  of  man,  the  instru- 
ments necessary  to  the  development  of  his  genius,  or  what 
is  nearly  equivalent,  his  artistic  and  industrial  instincts. 
For  without  tools  man  would  be  reduced  to  inaction  and 
condemned  to  a  perpetual  infancy.  With  their  aid  he  be- 
comes capable  of  all  things.  With  his  teeth  and  nails 
man"  would  try  in  vain  to  cut  down  a  tree  with  the  rapidity 
and  skill  of  the  beaver.  But  what  animal  can  cut  wood 
as  easily  and  as  cleanly  as  man  once  possessed  of  the  saw  ? 
What  animal,  without  excepting:  the  woodpecker  or  the 
teredo,  could  drill  a  hole  so  perfectly  circular  as  that 
which  we  can  bore  with  the  auger  or  the  gimlet  ?  And 
so  man  early  sought  to  multiply  his  means  of  action,  and 
provide  his  hands,  his  eyes,  his  ears,  with  supplementary 
organs  invented  by  the  workings  of  his  intelligence. 
Hence  arose  tools  and  all  those  marvellous  instruments 
known  to-day  under  the  names  of  telescopes,  microscopes, 
telephones,  phonographs,  &c.  &c. 

Time  was  when  man  was  ignorant  of  the  art  of 
polishing  one  stone  by  means  of  another.  His  tools  were 
then  rude  and  few  in  number ;  he  already  possessed,  how- 
ever, the  most  indispensable  implements — the  knife,  the 
axe,  the  hammer,  the  chisel,  the  saw  (fig.  33),  the  gouge, 
the  scraper  or  grater,  and  the  hone.  The  polishing  stone 
is  of  far  more  recent  date. 

From  the  reindeer  age,  and  even  earlier,  he  knew  how 
to  make  drills  of  wood  and  bone  (figs.  106  and  107),  awls 
for  punching  holes  in  leather,  and  needles  and  pins  of 
bone.  To  this  list  may  be  added  pickaxes,  handles  and 
sockets  of  axes,  and  lastly,  hammers  of  stag's  horn. 

As  soon  as  he  knew  how  to  polish  his  hammers  and 


236 


PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


axes,  rriLin  conceived  the  idea  of  drilling  a  hole  for  the 
handle;  but  this  idea  was  of  late  birth,  and  during  the 
whole  of  the  neolithic  age  it  was  seldom  put  in  practice. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  boring  of  stone  became  common 
in  the  age  of  bronze,  the  habitual  use  of  the  metal  drill 
rendering  the  operation  easier. 

We  will  begin  by  describing  those  tools  in  most  con- 


FiG.  lOG.  Stoxe  dijill  fkom  tiik  Danish  kitchkn   miudexs.     (After 
Luijbock.) 

stant  use,  the  striker  and  the  polishing  stone,  the  former 
during  both  the  stone  periods,  the  latter  during  the  neo- 
lithic and  following  ages. 

The  striker  was  formed  of  a  very  hard  stone,  quartz  or 
granite,  never  of  gneiss  or  tiint.  As  a  rule,  these  tools 
are  more  or  less  circular  in  outline,  and  more  or  less 
flattened    on    their    lateral    surfaces,    slightly    hollowed 


Vu..   107.    r.»»NK    DItlM.    FKOM    SCOTLAND.       (AfttT  LllbbocU.) 

to  give  a  firmer  hold  to  the  fingers.  Upon  their  blunt 
edge,  traces  of  the  blows  to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
jected may  be  distinctly  seen.  The  circumference  of 
others,  sometimes  perforated  laterally,  is  grooved.  Jsilsson 
believes  this  channel  to  have  been  intended  for  the  pas- 
sage of  a  cord  l)y  which  the  stone  was  suspended  from  the 
belt,  so  that  it  might  be  always  at  hand  for  the  hunter  or 


STIIIKI'RS   AND   POLISHING   STONES.  237 

workman  to  put  a  new  edji^e  to  his  weapons  or  tools.  Tliii 
hole  observed  upon  certain  of  these  strikers,  which  are  not 
grooved,  probably  served  tlie  same;  purpose.  Lastly,  mere 
hard  Hat  pebbles,  easily  held  between  the  fingers,  may 
have  been  used  as  strikers. 

All  archaeologists  will  not  allow  that  the  use  which  we 
with  Nilsson  have  attributed  to  these  stones  is  proved 
beyond  dispute.  Troyon  believes  that  these  disc-shaped 
stones  were  employtnl  in  a  game  similar  to  the  chunrjke  of 
the  American  Indians,  which  consists  in  setting  the  stones 
rolling  and  in  running  after  them,  throwing  poles  adorned 
with  ribands,  on  one  of  which  the  stone's  course  is  arrested. 
The  position  of  the  disc  upon  the  riband  determines  the 
victory  or  defeat  of  the  player.  Sir  John  Evans  on  his 
side  affirms  that  prehistoric  peoples  princi])ally  employed 
the  hammer  in  the  manufacture  of  their  instruments  of 
war,  of  the  chase,  of  fishing,  or  of  daily  work.  But  with- 
out gainsaying  the  very  early  use  of  the  hannner,  what 
prevents  us  from  admitting  jit  the  same  time  that  of  the 
striker,  inscribed  so  to  speak  on  the  implement  itself? 
Certain  archaeologists,  however,  have  considered  the  discs 
in  question  as  weaver's  shuttles,  as  weights  for  fishing 
nets,  pulh^s,  and  even  maces  ;  various  uses  for  which  they 
may  doubtless  have  been  occjisionally  employed. 

Towards  the  period  of  the  formation  of  the  great  rub- 
bish heaps  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  known  as  kitchen 
middens,  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  Europe  conceived 
the  idea  of  polishing  their  weapons  and  tools,  and  of 
sharpening  their  edge  by  means  of  a  stone  sinu'lar  to  those 
which  we  now  employ  for  grinding  our  metal  tools  (sand- 
stone, quartz,  flinty  schist,  &.c.) 

The  form  of  these  stones  is  usually  an  oblong  poly- 
hedron, narrowed  towards  the  middle  and  broader  at  the 
extremities.  One  surface — concave,  convex,  or  flat — is 
usually  furrowed  into  grooves  which  indicate  the  wear  oc- 
casioned by  the  continual  friction  of  a  small  instrument 
such  as  the  g^'Uge  or  chisel.  The  larger  polishing  stones, 
those  whose  considerable  weight  prevented  their  transport, 
or  at  any  rate  rendered  it  diihcult,  remain  in  the  place 


238  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

they  originally  occupied.  Such  is  the  notched  stone  of 
Chauvigny,  which  still  bears  the  marks  of  twenty-five 
notches  or  grooves  clearly  indicating  the  purpose  it  served. 
Such  again  is  the  polishing  stone  found  at  Cerilly,  in  the 
department  of  the  Yonne,  whose  surface  presents  eleven 
grooves  as  distinctly  marked  as  those  of  the  notched  stone. 
The  edge  of  the  hatchets,  knives,  chisels,  &c.,  was  applied 
to  these  grooves,  and  constant  friction,  produced  by  a  con- 
tinual backward  and  forward  motion,  gave  to  the  instru- 
ment the  desired  graining  and  polish.  Other  polishers, 
smaller  and  easily  portable,  were  often  ornamented  with 
scolloped  edges,  and  perforated  for  suspension.  These 
latter  bear  the  most  perfect  resemblance  to  those  em- 
ployed by  the  Grreenland  women  to  sharpen  and  polish  their 


Fig.  108.  Esquimaux  knife,  with  handle.     (After  Lubbock.) 

bone  needles.  Others,  lastly,  are  similar  to  those  used 
in  the  present  day  for  sharpening  our  scythes  and  sickles. 

The  knife  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  ancient  tools. 
We  could,  if  necessary,  enter  into  the  fullest  details  re- 
specting the  form  and  dimensions  of  this  implement, 
whose  nature  and  use  were  so  long  misunderstood,  though 
they  figured  from  the  earliest  historic  ages  in  the  reli- 
gious ceremonies  of  the  Hebrews,  the  Egyptians,  the 
Greeks,  the  Komans,  and  perhaps  even  of  the  Scandi- 
navians. 

The  form  of  the  flint  knives  is  very  various;  some- 
times the  cutting  edge  was  straight  (fig.  108)  ;  sometimes, 
but  much  more  seldom,  it  was  curved  (fig.  109).  Some 
had  a  round  or  prismatic  stone  handle,  a  continuation  of  the 
blade  itself;  others  were  provided  with  a  wooden  handle, 
to  which  the  blade  was  probably  attached  by  means  of  a 


FLINT   KNIVIX 


239 


black  ceinciit,  similar  to  that  used,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
the  savages  of  Scandinavia  for  their  arrows,  lances,  and 
javelins,  and  to  that  still  in  use  among  the  New  Zealanders. 
The  blade  of  some  of  these  knives  was  no  longer  or  wider 
than  that  of  a  penknife ;  sometimes,  again,  it  was  of 
considerable  length,  like  a  hunting-knife.  MM.  Noulet 
and  Bisehofif  have  described  two  of  the  latter,  the  one  in 
the  '  Memoires  de  I'Academie  des  Sciences,  Inscriptions,  et 
Belles  Lettres  de  Toidouse ; '  the  other  in  the  '  llevue  de 
(Jaseogne,'  edited  by  the  Abbe  Caneto  (August  2.5,  1865). 
The  blade  of  the  first  of  these  kinives,  found  at  Venerque, 
in  the  department  of  Haute-Graronne,  by  Professor  Noulet, 
is  imperfect ;  and  it  nevertheless  measures  six  inches  long 
by  two  wide.     That  of  the  knife  of  fire-bearing  flint,  dis- 


FiG.  109.  Carved  PRKiiisroiac  stone  kxi 


covered  at  Pauilhac,  in  the  department  of  Grers,  by  M, 
Bischoff,  was  longer  still.  Unfortunately  it  was  broken 
into  three  pieces  ;  but  the  fragments  fit  perfectly,  and  all 
three  together  measure  fourteen  inches  long.  The  two  speci- 
mens, the  finest  known,  have  the  form  of  a  much  flattened 
triangular  prism ;  one  surface  is  slightly  concave,  the 
other  has  two  oblique  faces,  separated  by  another  central 
one  which  becomes  gradually  narrower  and  finally  dis- 
appears as  it  approaches  the  upper  or  rounded  extremity 
of  the  knife. 

It  is  ditficult  to  understand  how  these  great  pieces  of 
flint  were  shaped  merely  by  the  aid  of  a  stone  striker. 
The  thing  was  nevertheless  possible,  and  we  have  the 
proof  of  it  under  our  eyes.  Moreover,  Sir  John  Evans 
affirms  and  proves  ipso  facta   that  it  is  possible  to  carve 


240 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


flint  with  another  pebble  as   well  as  with  the  most  solid 
steel  hammer. 

Polished  or  not,  employed  in  war,  in  hunting,  and  in 
the  ordinary  uses  of  daily  life,  the  axes  of  the  stone  age 
take  various  forms,  of  which  several  closely  resemble  our 
modern  hatchets.  The  earliest  in  date  have  usually  the 
form  of  a  wedge  or  much  flattened  pear,  with  slightly 
convex  surfaces ;  the  edge  is  wide  and  equally  sloped  on 


Fig.  110.  Nkw  Zeai^and  stone  axe 
(After  Lubbock.) 


Fig.  IIL  Poltshet)  stoxk  axe 
FKOM  THK  Swiss  i>aivEs. 


both  sides,  the  summit  is  narrower  and  sometimes  ends 
in  a  point.  Those  of  Saint  Acheul,  in  the  department  of 
the  Somme,  present  a  well-known  type. 

The  axes  are  very  varied  in  size.  Some  of  them, 
beautifully  polished,  which  were  found  in  Sweden  and 
Denmark,  are  thirteen  inches  long  by  an  average  width 
of  thirty-five  or  thirty-six  inches,  and  a  thickness  of 
fourteen  or  sixteen  inches.     Those   of  France  and  Swit- 


STONE  AXES.  241 

zerliind,  are  generally  not  so  large.  JNI.  BiscliofY,  however, 
has  lately  called  attention  to  one  of  old  green  jade, 
which  he  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Gers,  nearly  ten 
inches  in  length.  The  inhabitants  of  New  Zealand  and 
of  New  Caledonia  make  similar  axes  of  this  jade,  which 
is  very  hard,  and  will  take  so  line  a  polish  and  so 
sharp  an  edge  that  we  were  ourselves  able  to  cut  great 
notches  with  it  in  a  log  of  hard  oak.  These  wedge- 
shaped  axes  have  different  kinds  of  handles.  Sometimes, 
like  those  of  several  modern  savage  tribes,  they  were 
inserted  in  a  notch  or  groove  made  in  the  shorter  end  of 
a  naturally-bent  piece  of  wood,  and  were  kept  in  place 
either  by  crossed  thongs  or  by  a  cord  Avound  several  times 
round  the  upper  part  of  the  axe  and  handle.  Sometimes 
the  whole  was  rendered  more  solid  by  bitumen,  and  occa- 
sionally a  single  stick,  pierced,  forked  or  split,  served  for 
the  handle.  In  his  work  entitled  ' De  VHomme  Ante- 
dihivien  et  de  ses  (Euvres,'  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  has 
represented  several  different  kinds  of  handles  used  for  the 
unpohshed  axes.  Sir  John  Evans  has  also  given  some 
curious  illustrations  of  those  of  the  polished  axes.  We 
must  say  a  word  or  two  respecting  the  manner  in  which 
the  inhabitants  of  our  caves  of  the  reindeer  age,  and  those 
of  the  lake  cities  of  Switzerland,  commonly  attached  their 
axes  to  the  handles. 

After  having  separated  a  piece  of  reindeer  or  stag's 
horn  with  the  flint  saw,  they  hollowed  a  groove  in  this 
fragment,  into  which  they  introduced  the  upper  end  of 
the  axe.  The  piece  of  horn  which  served  as  a  socket  or 
protecting  sheath  was  itself  fixed  in  a  hole  made  in  the 
larger  end  of  a  club-shaped  piece  of  wood.  A  sort  of 
ledge  or  shoulder  on  the  under  side  of  the  socket  pre- 
vented the  axe  from  being  driven  back  into  the  handle 
so  as  to  split  it.  In  other  cases  they  contented  them- 
selves with  inserting  the  polished  axe  directly  in  the  hole 
of  the  key-shaped  handle,  keeping  it  in  place  by  means 
of  cords  and  a  suitable  glue  (fig.  112).  Another  method 
consisted  in  placing  the  axe  in  a  socket  of  stag's  horn 
pierced  transversely  by  a  hole,  into  which  a  wooden  handle 


242  PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

■was  fitted.  Sometimes  a  stem  of  hazel  with  its  root 
attached,  and  forming  a  right  angle  with  the  former,  was 
chosen  for  the  purpose.  The  root  was  split  and  the  axe 
introduced  into  it  and  fixed  by  means  of  cords  and  bitu- 
men (figs.  113  and  114).^ 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  these  various  methods  of 
attaching  the  axe  to  the  handle  are  still  employed  by  the 
savages  of  New  Caledonia,  of  the  Fiji  Isles,  and  of  various 
parts  of  America. 

Some  of  these  handles,  of  ash,  hazel,  or  fir  wood,  have 
been  preserved.     Such,  for  instance,  is  that  of  a  hatchet 


Fig.  112.  Axe,  with  sTAo's-noRN  handle,  Lake  city  of  Concise. 
(After  de  Mortillet.) 

found  at  Eobenhausen,  of  which  M.  Keller  has  given  an 
illustration ;  that  of  an  axe  found  in  county  Monaghan, 
and  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  the  Koyal  Academy  of 
Ireland ;  the  hatchet  of  Solway  Moss,  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  several  more.  Unfortunately,  these  handles, 
as  soon  as  they  are  taken  out  of  the  water  of  the  lakes, 
or  from  the  damp  earth,  lose  their  form  and  split  or  break 
in  drying,  so  that  their  preservation  in  the  glass  cases  of 
our  museums  is  a  matter  of  considerable  difticulty.^ 

'  See  Sir  John  Evans,  The  Ancient  Stone  Implements,  Wcajjons,  and 
Ornaments  of  Great  liritain,  p.  145,  tips.  100  and  lOL 

2  la  order  to  preserve  the  handles  oi  axes  or  hammers,  or  other 


STONE  AXES, 


243 


As  we  have  alreiidy  said,  perforated  axes  (figs.  115  and 
116)  are  rather  rare  in  the   ueolithie  periud,  but  very 


Fig.  113.  Axe,  with  han'dle 
(Tahiti).    (After  Lubbuck.) 


FlO.  114.    PoLISlIKI)  STONK  A.XE, 
WITH  HANDLK  (SoI.WAY  MoSS). 

(After  Evaus). 


wooden  articles  extracted  from  the  mud  of  the  lakes  or  from  the  peat 
mosse.s,  M.  Endehnrdt  has  employed  a  process  which  appears  to  have 
been  successful.  His  metliod  consists  in  plun.udns:  or  even  l)..ilinf,^  the 
articles  in  a  strong  solution  of  alum,  and  allowing  them  to  dry  sluwl.v, 
and  they  then  preserve  their  original  form. 


244 


PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


common  in  the  age  of  bronze.     A  few  of  the  latter,  single 
or  double  edged,  are  very  elegant  forms,  resembling  those 


Figs.  115,  IIG.  Pki;foi;ati:d,  polished,  DouBLii-EDGED  axe  (Yorkshire.) 
(After  Evans.) 

of  our  metal  axes.^     It   is  sufficient   to  notice   here,  in 

'  8ee  Sir  John  Evans,  The  Ancient  Sto?ie  Implements,  Weajwns,  and 
Ornaments  of  (Jreat  JJritain,  iigs.  i)!,  i)3,  HI,  'J5,  i)8,  and  100. 


THE   TTA:\nrER  AXE. 


245 


passing,  those  whicli  are  generally  known  as  tlie  Amazon 
axes,  of  whieh  the  narrower  side,  hollowed  into  a  double 
crescent,  was  perforated  for  the  reception  of  the  handle, 
and  of  which  the  two  extremities  were  terminated  in  a 
doubly-sloped  and  nearly  half-circular  edge.  We  need 
also  only  mention  the  hammer  axes  (fig.  117),  of  which 
the  name  sufficiently  indicates  the  form  and  purpose. 

Axes  of  smaller  size,  and  especially  those  made  from 
rocks  foreign  to  the  district  where  they  are  found,  were 
merely  inserted  perpendicularly  in  the  piece  of  stag's  horn 
which  served  as  a  handle,  and  are  rather  knives  than  axes 
properly  so  called.  Othei's,  without  a  handle,  were  held  in 
the  hand  like  a  cold  chisel,  and  were  marked  by  a  circular 
groove  that  they  might  be  grasped  more  easily  and  firmly. 


Fig.  117.  DiopaxE  iiAjniKu  a 


(After  Evans.) 


Hitherto  we  have  only  spoken  of  axes  for  war  or  for 
useful  purposes ;  the  edge  of  all  of  these  is  parallel  to  the 
handle.  There  are  others  of  which  the  edge  is  perpen- 
dicular to  the  shaft ;  these  are  the  chip  axes,  whose  form 
and  general  use  recall  the  adzes  of  our  carpenters.  Other 
somewhat  massive  tools,  of  which  one  surfiice  is  markedly 
convex,  the  other  slightly  concave  and  the  edge  rounded, 
are  considered  to  be  primitive  hoes  employed  in  agricul- 
ture. Among  the  implements  with  a  transverse  edge  we 
may  also  mention  the  supposed  throwwr/  axes,  which 
ajipoar  to  be  nothing  but  wedges  with  slender  liandlcs, 
whieh  were  held  in  the  left?  hand  and  struck  with  blows 
from  the  mallet  (Nilssonj. 


246 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


We  need  likewise  only  mention — 

1.  Stone  chisels,  with  or  without  handles,  similar  in 
every  respect  to  those  in  use  among  the  inhabitants  of 
Tahiti  and  New  Zealand. 

2.  Gouges  or  chisels,  with  a  semicircular  edge  and 
more  or  less  wide,  intended  for  hollowing  wood,  similar  to 


Figs.  118,  119.  Flint  scraper.     (After  Lubbock.) 


those  still  employed  by  the  North  American  Indians  to 
hollow  the  tree  trunks  for  their  canoes. 

3.  The  scrapers  and  smoothers  in  flint  or  bone  for 
removing  the  hair  from  skins  or  to  smooth  leather  (figs. 
118  and  119),  very  similar  to  those  employed  for  like 
purposes  by  the  Greenlanders  and  the  Esquimaux  (figs. 
120  and  121). 


SCKAPERS   AND   SAWS. 


247 


4  The  drills  with  a  transverse  edge  like  that  of  a 
chisel,  a  speeies  of  auger  in  basalt,  diorite  or  serpentine, 
rarely  in  Hint,  sinee  this  rock  would  be  too  liable  to  break 
in  the  operation  of  drilling. 

5.  Lastly,  I  shall  mention,  to  prevent  mistakes  in  date, 
those  polished  tools  transformed  into  other  rough  hewn 
tools  ;  for  example,  a  polished  axe  changed  into  a  chisel, 
a  knife  become  a  saw  or  a  lance  head.  For  we  shall  not 
know  in  what  epoch  to  class  these  ambiguous  tools  if  the 
metamorphosis  which  they  have  undergone  is  overlooked. 


Figs.  120,  121.  Esquimaux  scraper,  skkn  in  front  and  in  profile. 
(After  Evans.) 

6.  Among  the  most  useful  tools  we  must  not  forget  to 
mention  the  hand  saw,  so  often  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
bone  implements.  This  flint  saw,  usually  very  small,  was 
inserted,  we  have  said,  in  a  handle  of  stag's  horn  longitu- 
dinally grooved,  in  which  it  was  retained  by  a  viscous 
substance  resembling  cobbler's  wax.  It  must  have  been 
often  broken,  and  yet  it  must  have  cost  infinite  skill  and 
patience  to  obtain  those  fine  teeth  which  we  admire  on 
the  specimens  in  the  museums  of  Switzerland,  St.  (iermain-. 
en-Layc,  Toulouse,  Montauban,  Sic,     (See  alcove,  fig.  33). 


248 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


Like  many  other  stone  implements,  the  saws  have  been 
found  in  considerable  numbers  in  certain  caves  of  the 
reindeer  age  ;  in  that  of  Bruniquel,  for  instance,  and  more 
rarely  in  other  caves  of  Dordogne.  They  occur  in  the  burial 
places  of  the  neolithic  age  in  France,  in  the  dolmens  of 
Poitou,  but  they  are  generally  rare  in  the  latter,  and  in 
those  of  Grreat  Britain  and  Ireland. 

Among  the  instruments  in  domestic  use  during  the 
age  of  polished  stone,  we  must  reckon  the  mortars  for 
bruising  grains,  and  especially  cereals.  The  primitive 
mortars  are  very  similar  to  those  of  modern  times.     They 


Fig.  122.  Stone  moktar  and  pestle,  found  at  Ty-Mawr  (Holyhead). 
(After  Evans.) 

are  made  of  hard  rock,  such  as  granite,  diorite,  gneiss,  and 
their  upper  surface  is  more  or  less  hollow.  The  pestle 
was  also  of  stone,  spherical  or  oval  in  form,  or  else  club 
shaped.  Shallow  depressions  were  made  in  the  spherical 
pestles  to  render  them  more  easily  grasped.  If  the  age 
of  several  of  these  mortars  is  sometimes  doubtful,  this  is 
not  the  case  with  regard  to  the  hand  mills  found  in  the 
Swiss  lakes  ;  they  belong  incontestably  to  the  most  ancient 
lake  dwellings.  We  have  said  that  they  were  used  for 
grinding  the  corn  which  served  to  make  the  circular  loaves 
or  cakes  found  at  liobenhausen.     The  grain  which  was  in- 


WKAVING   AND   SEWING.  249 

tended  for  this  purpose  was  sometimes  previously  boiled, 
probably  in  order  to  facilitate  the  operation  of  crushing  it. 

VL    WEAVING  AND   SEWING. 

After  food  comes  clothing ;  hence  spinning  and  weaving 
are  of  the  most  remote  anticpiity  (figs.  123,  124).  Wooden 
spindles  and  tissues  of  linen  and  bark  have  been  found  in 
the  Swiss  lake  dwellings.  Perforated  discs  of  stone  or 
clay,  used  as  spindle  weights,  are  extremely  common  (fig. 
125).     One  of  them  was  still  attached  to  the  spindle  at  the 


Fig.  123.  Piece  of  tissue  found  at  Robenhausex.     (After  Lubbock.) 

time  it  was  discovered.     Linen  thread  or  bark  fibre  was 

used  to  sew  the  garments  of  woven  stuffs  or  of  skins  in 

which  the  inhabitants  of  the  lake  cities  clothed  themselves. 

Those  of  the  caves  used  a  thread  made  from  split  tendons, 

perhaps  even  strings  of  gut.     There  is  no  doubt  that  the 

art  of  sewing  was  very  early  known,  since  needles  have 

been  found  in  the  caves  of  France  and  Great  Britain,  as 

well  as  in  the  Swiss  lakes,  belonging  to  the  archcTolithic 

or  reindeer  age.^     Some  of  the   latter,  pointed  at  both 

•  Bone  needles  occur  in  nearly  all  the  caves  of  Dordogne,  at  Massat 
(department  of  A^i^o:e),  at  Lourdes  (Hautes-Pyn'nees),  at  Veyrier,  at 
the  foot  of  Mount  8aleve,  as  well  as  in  various  districts  of  Switzerland, 
and  even  in  tlio  nci,irlil)ourliood  of  P.othleliem,  the  latter  bearing  an 
exact  rtsembluncc  to  those  of  our  stations  of  the  reindeer  age. 


250 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


ends,  were  perforated  in  the  middle  where  the  needle  is 
thickest,  similar  in  this  respect  to  some  bronze  needles 
which  were  doubtless  copied  exactly  from  the  former. 
Other  bone  needles  have  the  eye  pierced  at  the  larger  end. 
A  few  of  these  found  at  Bruniquet  are  so  fine,  that  they 


Fig.  124.  Weaver's  shuttle  op 
the  age  of  polished  stone. 
(After  Lubbock.) 


Fig.  125.  Spixdle  weight  in  red 

SANDSTONE,     Ft)rND     AT     HOLY- 

HEAD.     (After  Evans.) 


must  have  been  employed  in  more  delicate  work  than  the 
sewing  of  skins. 

The  bone  needles  of  Perigord  (figs.  126  and  127)  are 
remarkable  for  the  delicacy  and  finish  displayed  in  their 
workmanship.    In  both  respects  they  are  superior  to  those 


Figs.  126,  127.  Bone  needles  from  the  caves  of  Perigord. 
(After  Broca.) 

of  the  ancient  Gauls,  and  to  the  ivory  needles  of  the 
modern  Esquimaux,  and  still  more  so  to  those  of  the 
Kamtskatchans,  which  are  merely  fish  bones.  In  any  case 
that  which  is  especially  admirable  in  the  bone  needles  of 
Languedoc  and  Perigord,  is  the  skill  with  which  the  boring 
of  the  eyes  with  a  flint  drill  was  accomplished  ;  but  with 


PEIMITIVE   NEEDLES.  251 

skill  and  patience  ]\I.  Ed.  Lartet  perfectly  succeeded  in 
this  operation.*  Like  the  hand-mills  and  spindles,  the 
needles  indicate  occupations  already  essentially  domestic — 
the  chimney  corner,  a  special  part  for  the  woman  to  fill, 
family  life,  and  consequently  an  established  polity  already 
in  the  path  of  civilization. 

Fish-hooks,  awls,  bone  pins  for  fastening  the  dress  or 
the  hair,  or  even  for  ornament,  are  also  of  frequent  occur- 
rence in  the  caves  and  among  the  earliest  lake  dwellings. 
These  are  certainly  very  unpretending  implements,  like 
the  needles  which  accompany  them,  and  of  whose  useful- 
ness long  habit  has  rendered  us  unobservant.  But  we 
shall  better  understand  their  importance  when  we  consider 
the  essential  part  they  played  in  primitive  societies,  and 
that  which  they  still  hold  in  our  modern  industry.  Re- 
member the  millions  of  hands  which  are  employed  in  their 
manufacture  and  use,  and  how  the  needles  with  which  she 
had  provided  herself  to  distribute  on  occasion  protected 
the  renowned  and  courageous  traveller,  Ida  Pfeitier,  from 
the  cannibals  of  the  Malay  Archipelago. 

'  See  in  the  TicUqnicB  Aquitaniccc  the  interest  ins:  details  which 
;MM.  Ed.  Lartet  and  Cnristy  have  given  respecting  the  making  of  tlieae 
needles. 


252  PKIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

AGBICULTUBE. 
I.    PRIMITIVE  AGRICULTURE. 

If  we  belonged  to  tliat  liappy  time  when  the  lively  imagi- 
nation of  men  took  delight  in  poetical  symbols,  we 
might  represent  civilization  under  the  form  of  a  strong, 
fair  woman,  bearing  in  one  hand  an  ear  of  corn,  in  the 
other  a  book,  the  ear  providing  man  with  food  for  main- 
taining and  strengthening  the  body,  the  book  furnishing 
him  with  intellectual  and  moral  nourishment  which  com- 
pletes and  ennobles  his  nature,  ever  hungering  for  know- 
ledge and  progress. 

Not  without  reason,  then,  were  Ceres  and  Triptolemus, 
the  reputed  inventors  of  the  plovigh  and  of  agriculture, 
ranked  with  Orpheus  and  Amphion  as  the  first  instructors 
of  the  human  race. 

When  we  think  of  the  many  and  various  blessings 
which  result  from  the  tillage  of  the  fields,  we  easily  under- 
stand how  the  ancient  Scythians  believed,  as  Herodotus 
avers,  in  the  divine  origin  of  the  plough.  Among  the 
primitive  inhabitants  of  Germany  the  belief  was  current 
that  the  ploughshare  fell  from  heaven,  and  a  temple  was 
raised  on  the  spot  where  it  touched  the  earth.  An  old 
and  simple  German  legend  tells  us  how  the  daughter  of  a 
giant,  filled  with  wonder  at  the  strange  sight  of  a  man 
engaged  in  ploughing  his  field,  bore  away  in  one  of  the 
folds  of  her  dress  the  pigmy  labourer,  his  plough,  and  his 
oxen.  The  father  of  the  girl  was  angry  with  her,  and 
bade  her  put  the  earth  worm  where  she  had  found  it, 
foreseeing  that  the  race  of  giants  must  soon  die  out  before 
the  efforts  of  man's  intelligence. 


MYTHOLOGY.  253 

The  period  of  the  giants,  a  race  of  nomadic  shepherds, 
preceded  that  of  the  dwarfs — that  is,  those  who  practised 
agriculture  and  worked  in  metals. 

The  former  represent  brute  force  and  savage  instincts; 
these  belong  to  the  stone  age.  The  dwarfs,  on  the  other 
hand,  their  adversaries  according  to  the  Germanic  legend, 
are  the  living  symbol  of  the  strife  between  mind  and 
matter,  the  earliest  pioneers  of  civilization  ;  they  belong 
to  the  age  of  bronze.  I  need  not  name  the  divine  la- 
bourer of  the  Chinese,  amongst  whom  agriculture  is  held 
in  such  high  honour  that  the  Emperor  himself  traces  each 
year  the  first  furrow. 

There  is  no  tradition,  no  written  history,  to  tell  us  at 
what  epoch  men  began  to  till  the  land.  Like  the  child 
who  retains  no  remembrance  of  his  earliest  years,  nations 
have  lost  the  memory  of  the  successive  stages  through 
w*hich  they  passed  before  casting  off  the  swaddling  clothes 
of  ignorance  and  barbarism.  None  of  them  can  tell  us  the 
origin  of  the  simplest  form  of  plough,  still  less  the  name 
of  its  inventor.  But  where  history  is  silent  mythology 
raises  her  gentle  voice,  and  infuses  into  the  mind  of  man 
those  poetic  fictions  which  have  come  down  to  us  through 
the  ages  in  place  of  truth. 

In  the  fulness  of  time  science  was  born  ;  she  penetrates 
into  the  virgin  forest  of  the  New  World,  which  is  perhaps 
the  most  ancient,  and  finds  there,  among  the  gigantic 
ruins  of  Uxmal  or  of  Palenque,  monuments  which  recall 
to  mind  Egypt  and  its  gloomy  splendours.  She  questions 
the  tumuli  of  the  Ohio,  the  dolmens  of  Brittany,  the  long 
barrows  of  Scotland,  and  the  ashes  of  the  dead  make 
answer.  She  searches  the  cave  dwellings  of  primitive 
man,  she  sounds  the  lakes  at  the  bottom  of  which  he 
built  his  early  habitations,  and  she  reconstructs  from  the 
often  mutilated  remains  w^hich  she  finds  therein  a  whole 
world,  with  its  character,  its  customs,  its  arts,  industry, 
and  agriculture. 

In  order  to  discover  the  first  distinct  traces  of  the 
culture  of  the  fields,  we  must  go  back  to  the  time  of  the 
builders  of  the  lake  cities  of  the  neolithic  age.  Neither 
12 


254  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

the  dwellers  in  the  caves  of  the  period  of  the  bear 
or  of  the  reindeer,  nor  the  constructors  of  the  Danish 
kitchen  middens,  knew  anything  of  agriculture.  In  Swit- 
zerland, on  the  other  hand,  and  perhaps  in  Italy,  most 
of  our  cereals  were  already  in  cultivation  before  the 
age  of  bronze,  maize  always  excepted.  Several  bushels 
of  barley  and  wheat  were  found  at  Wangen  ;  and  Eoben- 
hausen  has  also  furnished  ears  of  the  same  grains,  car- 
bonised at  the  time  of  the  burning  of  the  lake  cities,  a 
circumstance  to  which  they  owe  their  preservation.  A 
fact  which  is  especially  calculated  to  excite  wonder  is  that 
at  this  remote  epoch  several  varieties  of  barley  and  wheat 
already  existed.  Thus  Professor  Heer  has  distinguished 
the  Triticum  vulgar e,  T.  dicoccum  and  T.  monococcum. 
He  recognised  also  the  Hordeum  distichum,  or  double- 
ranked  barley,  which  is,  however,  rarer  in  Switzerland 
than  the  Hordeum  hexastickiim,  a  variety  which  is  com- 
mon in  the  ancient  tombs  of  areece  and  Egypt.  Among 
the  cereals  we  must  likewise  reckon  two  species  of  millet, 
Setaria  italica  and  Panicum  miliaceum,  which  are  still 
used  for  food  in  some  countries. 

Among  leguminous  plants  we  find  peas,  lentils,  and 
the  little  March  bean,  Faba  vulgaris  celtica.  The  fruit  of 
the  wild  and  cultivated  apple  trees,  pears,  plums,  sloes, 
cherries,  strawberries,  raspberries,  blackberries,  hazel 
nuts,  beech  nuts,  acorns,  &c.,  preserved  in  rude  hand- 
turned  vessels,  formed  part  of  the  vegetable  food  of  the 
earliest  inhabitants  of  Switzerland.  We  may  add  to  the 
list  the  fruit  of  a  species  of  plum  of  the  Scotch  and 
marsh  firs,  of  the  service  tree,  of  the  water  chestnut,  and 
even  of  the  yellow  water  lily. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  the  apples  and  pears  were 
cut  in  quarters  to  allow  of  their  being  more  easily  dried. 
We  have  not  mentioned  the  walnut  in  our  list  of  edible 
fruits :  it  is  probable  that  this  tree  was  already  no  longer 
indigenous  in  Europe,  as  it  was  during  the  epoch  of  the 
great  mammalia,  but  had  disappeared  with  the  thuya  and 
the  liquidambar. 

We  must  not  conclude  this  chapter  on  agriculture  and 


AGRICULTURE.  255 

its  products  without  saying  a  few  words  about  the  textile 
phnits. 

llcuip  was  unknown,  but  flax  was  cultivated  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  lake  dwellings.  The  seed  has  been 
found  in  abundance,  and  also  the  nets  and  woven  or 
plaited  tissues  manufixctured  from  it.  'The  weaver's  loom 
and  shuttle,  the  spinner's  spindle  and  accessories,  such  as 
weights  to  stretch  the  thread,  &c.,  already  existed.  Ropes 
and"  cordage  were  made  from  twisted  linen  thread  and 
bark  fibre  ;  straw  and  osiers  were  used,  the  former  for 
plaiting,  the  latter  for  making  baskets  and  bird-nets  for 
fishing.  Agricultural  implements,  as  may  be  supposed, 
were  of  the  simplest,  resembling  those  in  use  among 
some  of  the  islanders  of  Polynesia. 

;MM.  Boucher  de  Perthes,  Garrigon,  and  Filhol  have 
suggested  that  stags'  antlers,  deprived  of  all  their  branches 
but  one,  the  lower  jawbone  of  Ursus  spelceus,  branches  of 
trees  forming  a  more  or  less  open  angle,  &c.,  might  have 
served  as  pickaxes  and  hoes  at  a  time  when  the  yet 
virgin  soil  must  have  been  extremely  fertile  without  the 
need  of  deep  ploughing. 

It  is  certain  that  several  savage  and  even  cannibal 
tribes  still  employ  for  tilling  the  soil  tools  quite  as  primi- 
tive as  those  used  by  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  Central 
Europe.  The  ribs  of  the  whale,  or  billets  of  wood  shaped 
like  gouges,  are  used  as  spades.  The  clods  raised  by  the 
piece  of  wood  are  broken  up  with  a  small  roller.  Their 
hoe  is  an  oyster  or  tortoise  shell  firmly  fixed  to  the  end  of 
a  stick ;  a  sharp  shell  serves  as  a  pruning  knife.  Non- 
metallic  agricultural  tools  similar  to  the  spade  or  shovel 
have  not  yet  been  found  in  Europe.  Sir  John  Evans  has 
only  found  in  England  some  flint  hoes.  But  in  North 
America,  to  the  south  of  the  Illinois,  and  on  the  banks 
of  the  ^Mississippi,  some  carved  flints  of  a  large  size  and 
of  unknown  date  were  discovered,  which  it  is  surmised 
were  used  as  spades  by  the  primitive  inhabitants.  These 
implements  are  oval  or  elliptical  in  form,  flat  on  one  side, 
slightly  convex  on  the  other,  with  sharp  and  regularly 
toothed  edges,  and  measuring  more  than  a  foot  in  length 


256  PRUVIITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

by  five  or  six  inclies  wide  and  three-quarters  of  an  inch 
thick  in  the  middle.  Professor  Eau  has  given  illustrations 
and  descriptions  of  similar  hoes  and  shovels  also  found  in 
North  America  ('  Archaeological  Collection  of  the  United 
Suites'  National  Museum,'  by  Charles  Eau.  Washington, 
1876.     Figs.  54  and  bC)). 

These  rude  implements  are  far  removed  indeed  from 
the  reaping  machines  and  steam  ploughs  of  to-day ;  but 
this  is  only  an  additional  proof  of  the  vast  progress  of 
humanity. 

II.    THE    DOMESTICATION    OP    AHSTIMALS. 

When  we  consider  the  immense  difficulties  which 
primitive  man  must  have  encountered  in  the  task  of  sub- 
duing an  animal  so  powerful  as  the  wild  bull,  so  swift  as 
the  horse,  so  fierce  as  the  dog  in  its  natural  state,  we  may 
well  wonder  how  he  could  tame  these  wild  creatures,  and 
not  only  render  them  useful  allies  and  devoted  servants, 
but  also  make  them  trusted  friends. 

Any  conclusion  upon  questions  relating  to  the  domes- 
tication of  animals  is  rendered  especially  difficult  on  ac- 
count of  the  uncertainty  under  which  we  labour  with 
regard  to  the  traces  of  modifications  observed  upon  fossil 
bones ;  we  cannot  tell  whether  these  modifications  are 
natural  or  due  to  the  intervention  of  man,  since  either 
cause  would  produce  the  same  effect.  Great  discrimina- 
tion is  required  to  divine  the  real  agent ;  and  doubt, 
error,  and  uncertainty  still  reign  with  regard  to  many  of 
the  questions  which  we  are  about  to  consider-. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  '  animals  could  exist,  and 
have  existed,  without  man,  whereas  man  could  not  exist 
without  animals.' 

But  people  are  too  apt  to  forget  the  innumerable  diffi- 
culties which  may  have  long  interfered  with  the  entire 
subjugation  of  the  animals  we  now  call  domestic.  Now 
that  the  work  is  accomplished  nothing  seems  to  us  more 
simple  than  domestication,  that  association  between  the 
beast  and  man,  his  master,  and  too  often  his  tyrant. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  nothing  voluntary  in  this  asso- 


DOMESTICATION   OF  ANIMALS.  257 

ciation  on  the  part  of  the  animal,  and  as  jNI.  Bouley  says, 
with  as  much  wit  as  justice,  the  lamb  did  not  come  of  its 
own  accord  a  submissive  victim  to  bow  its  innocent  head, 
like  Iphigenia  beneath  the  steel  of  Calchas,  nor  did  the 
bull  voluntarily  submit  its  neck  to  the  yoke,  nor  the  horse 
open  its  mouth  to  receive  the  bit.  Even  now,  these  ser- 
vants, whom  we  believe  to  be  completely  enslaved  to  our 
will,  retain  their  inborn  instinct  of  independence,  and  it 
is  only  by  ceaseless  effort  that  man  succeeds  in  rendering 
dormant  in  some  of  them  that  love  of  liberty  which  exists 
in  all. 

But  man  has  discovered  and  turned  to  account  in  most 
of  the  animals  he  has  subjected  to  his  rule  an  instinct 
of  sociability,  existing  together  with  the  love  of  inde- 
pendence and  predisposing  them  to  domestication.  Here 
once  more  his  intelligence  created  him  king  ;  his  absolute 
authority  was  accepted  in  place  of  that  of  the  chief  natu- 
rally chosen  by  the  herd  when  still  possessed  of  liberty. 

This  same  intelligence  enabled  him  to  discern  among 
the  beasts  of  the  forest  those  which  would  be  most  useful 
to  him  by  furnishing  him  with  flesh,  milk,  muscular 
strength,  soft  warm  fur — all  the  resources  of  their  in- 
stinctive and  sagacious  faculties.  In  this  respect  the 
work  of  our  earliest  ancestors  is  so  complete,  that  the 
lapse  of  many  centuries  has  added  but  little  to  the  riches 
acquired  by  them. 

What  species  of  wild  animal  was  first  chosen  for  domes- 
tication, and  at  what  epoch  it  was  first  tamed,  is  a  question 
which  has  been  often  discussed,  and  which  has  nevertheless 
received  hitherto  no  satisfactory  answer.  Palaeontology, 
however,  has  lately  added  another  argument  in  favour  of 
the  opinion  of  those  who  hold  that  the  dog  was  the  first 
animal  subjected  to  the  dominion  of  man.  Professor 
Steenstrup,  of  Copenhagen,  has  proved  in  a  most  original 
way  that  the  dog  hunx^d  with  man  and  shared  his  repasts 
at  that  remote  epoch  when  the  savage  inhabitants  of  Den- 
mark heaped  up  along  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  the  enormous 
kitchen  middens. 

M.  Ed.  Dupont,  for  his  part,  has  met  with  the  cania 


258  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

familiaris  in  the  palseolitliic  caves  of  Belgium — that  is,  in 
settlements  still  older  than  the  kitchen  middens.  It  la 
true  that  the  learned  director  of  the  Natural  History  Mu- 
seum of  Brussels  does  not  assert  as  a  positive  fact,  but 
merely  supposes,  that  this  animal  was  very  early  domesti- 
cated. For  it  is  easy  to  conceive  the  useful  and  indispen- 
sable aid  the  dog  must  have  afforded  to  man  armed  only 
with  the  axe,  the  mace,  or  the  arrow  of  stone,  with  which 
to  strike  the  prey  that  he  pursued  in  its  flight  or  attacked 
in  a  hand-to-hand  combat.  The  eminently  sociable  dispo- 
sition of  the  dog,  the  innumerable  varieties  which  the 
species  present,  and  its  valuable  qualities,  natural  or  ac- 
quired, all  tend  to  prove  that  it  was  one  of  the  earliest 
companions  of  man,  whom  it  has  never  since  abandoned, 
whom  it  has  everywhere  followed,  and  of  whom  it  consti- 
tutes the  better  part,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  witty  author 
of  '  L'Esprit  des  Betes  '  (Townsend). 

It  is  also  Townsend  who  said :  '  The  dog  is  the  greatest 
conquest  man  ever  made,  if  M.  BufFon  will  allow  me  to 
say  so.  The  dog  is  the  first  element  in  human  progress. 
Without  the  dog  man  would  have  been  condemned  to 
vegetate  eternally  in  the  swaddling  clothes  of  savagery. 
It  was  the  dog  which  effected  the  passage  of  human 
society  from  the  savage  to  the  patriarchal  state,  in  making 
possible  the  guardianship  of  the  flock.  Without  the  dog 
there  could  be  no  flocks  and  herds  ;  without  the  flock 
there  is  no  assured  livelihood,  no  leg  of  mutton,  no  roast 
beef,  no  wool,  no  blanket,  no  time  to  spare ;  and,  conse- 
quently, no  astronomical  observations,  no  science,  no  in- 
dustry. It  is  to  the  dog  that  man  owes  his  hours  of 
leisure  '  ('  L'Esprit  des  Betes,'  p.  149,  Paris,  1868). 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  this  ingenious  trifling. 
Once  subjected  to  the  all-powerful  influence  of  man,  aided 
by  the  dog,  and  transported  by  him  into  all  climates,  our 
animals,  slaves  at  first,  and  at  last  domestic,  have  under- 
gone in  the  successive  ages  a  series  of  modifications  in 
outward  form,  size,  and  the  proportions  of  their  limbs,  in 
their  fur  and  skin,  in  their  interior  organs  and  their  func- 
tions, in  their  instincts  and  intelligence. 


POWER  OF  MAN   OVER   NATURE.  259 

The  history  of  these  wonderful  and  ahnost  infinite 
varieties  has  been  treated  by  a  master  hand  in  a  book 
which  soon  became  classic,  and  was  translated  into 
several  languages,  and  in  which  we  do  not  know  whether 
to  admire  most  the  profound  science,  the  accurate  ob- 
servation, the  great  number  of  facts  on  which  it  is 
based,  or  the  logic  of  its  deductions  and  breadth  of  its 
views,  though  hypotheses  sometimes  border  on  rashness. 
I  need  hardly  say  that  I  allude  to  Darwin's  important 
work,  *  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication.'  To 
this  book,  crammed  with  facts  and  ideas,  I  refer  those  of 
my  readers  who  may  be  desirous  of  knowing  how  far  the 
power  of  man  over  animated  nature  can  extend,  without 
prejudicing,  of  course,  the  immense  influence  he  exercises 
over  inorganic  nature.  It  is  enough  to  mention  here  the 
infinite  variety  of  breeds  of  dogs,  horses,  oxen,  sheep,  pigs, 
fowls,  pigeons,  &c.,  which  man  has  created,  and  still 
creates,  either  for  use  or  to  gratify  his  caprice.  Compare 
the  Newfoundland  dog  with  the  King  Charles  spaniel,  of 
which  the  breed  is  dying  out ;  the  Tiukish  hairless  dog 
with  the  fleecy  Maltese  breed ;  the  long-limbed,  sharp- 
nosed  greyhound  with  the  bow-legged  bulldog  with  the 
short  broad  muzzle ;  compare  the  Arab  horse,  so  swift  in 
its  course,  with  the  heavy,  but  powerful  dray  horse  ;  the 
bison  of  xVmerica,  with  its  monstrous  head,  with  our  Breton 
or  Alderney  cow ;  the  ancona  sheep  of  Massachusetts  with 
the  Leicester  or  merino  breed,  and  say  whether  man  is 
not  also  a  creator.  A  great  number  of  analogous  exam- 
ples might  be  cited  from  our  gallinaceous  breeds,  from  our 
geese  and  pigeons,  if  I  had  the  space  or  the  wish  to  pass 
them  all  in  review.  The  list  would  be  endless  if  we  came 
to  consider  the  instincts  acquired  or  lost,  the  fecundity 
increased  or  diminished,  the  diet  completely  changed,  the 
acclimatisation  and  naturalisation  of  exotic  species,  &c. 

I  know  that  some  savants,  few  in  number,  it  is  true, 
still  maintain,  in  spite  of  the  most  significant  facts,  that 
each  one  of  our  domestic  breeds  was  created  in  its  present 
form  and  on  purpose  for  man,  from  the  beginning ;  and 
that  it  has  since  remained  absolutely  unchanged.     This 


260  PEBIITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

remarkable  theory  does  not  even  deserve  a  serious  reflec- 
tion. 

We  may  therefore  conclude :  first,  that  taking  into 
consideration  the  effects  obtained  by  domestication,  the 
power  of  man  is  immense.  But  however  great  it  may  be, 
he  must,  in  order  to  obtain  new  varieties,  call  to  his  aid  the 
no  less  powerful  influence  of  surrounding  circumstances ; 
secondly,  that  all  domestic  animals  owe  to  a  naturally 
social  instinct  their  condition  of  servitude,  to  which  they 
were  reduced  by  accepting  man  as  their  master. 

III.    OKIGIN  AND   HOME  OF  OUR  PRUyTCIPAL 
DOMESTIC  ANIMALS. 

We  owe  to  INI.  Pictet  the  important  remark  that  m 
Switzerland  as  elsewhere  the  diluvian  fauna  passes  gradu- 
ally into  the  modern.  Thus  the  urus  (Bos  primigenius) 
is  associated  in  the  leaf-impressed  coal  of  Diimten,  in  the 
canton  of  Zurich,  with  the  Rhinoceros  leptorhinus  and 
the  Elephas  antiquus.  Later  it  lived  in  company  with 
the  mammoth  in  the  Ehine  valley;  still  later  with  the 
reindeer  and  the  marmozet ;  lastly,  at  Eobenhausen,  we 
find  it  with  the  aurochs,  when  it  became  the  object  of  the 
attacks  of  man,  who  finally  extinguished  the  species.  '  At 
the  time  of  Csesar,  the  urns,  the  elk,  the  aurochs,  still 
roamed  through  the  Hercynian  forest.  In  the  course  of 
the  seven  following  centuries  the  two  latter  were  exiled  to 
the  north.  The  change  was  doubtless  brought  about  by 
other  causes  than  any  modification  in  climate;  but  we  must 
look  to  some  change  in  temperature  to  account  for  the  fact 
that  the  two  species  which  formerly  existed  side  by  side  in 
the  Swiss  valleys,  the  reindeer  and  the  elephant,  are  to-day 
separated  from  each  other  by  half  the  meridian  of  the 
globe.' ' 

^  Universal  Library  of  Geneva,  ArcMrea,  vol.  xii.  1861,  p.  299.  It 
is  true  that  Africa  and  even  America  may  claim  the  honom-  of  having 
furnished  several  of  our  domestic  species.  Marsh  goes  even  further, 
and  aftirms  that  all  the  species  reduced  by  man  to  a  state  of  domesti- 
cation came  originally  from  the  New  World.  Carl  Vogt,  on  the  other 
hand,  pronounces  in  favour  of  Africa.  The  question  is  then  still  open, 
but  we  have  no  doubt  that  future  palieontulogical  discoveries  will 
sooner  or  later  throw  light  uj^on  the  matter 


ORIGIN   OF  DOMESTIC   ANDIALS.  261 

This  graduul  passac^e  from  the  diluvian  fauna  to  that 
of  the  present  day  shows  us  several  important  faets.  In 
the  first  phice  it  allows  us  to  attribute  certain  specific 
types  to  more  remote  epochs  than  is  generally  admitted. 
INIoreover,  it  authorises  us  to  seek  in  these  same  types  the 
original  stocks  of  most  if  not  of  all  of  oui  domestic  breeds. 
Now,  as  every  genus  from  which  the  latter  are  descended 
exists  in  a  fossil  state,  either  in  the  tertiary  beds  or  in  the 
diluvian  strata  of  Europe  as  well  as  in  those  of  Asia,  there 
is  already  a  strong  presumption  in  favour  of  the  European 
origin  of  our  modern  breeds. 

Hence  it  is  only  natural  and  logical  to  conclude  that 
the  diluvian  species  above  mentioned  survived  the  great 
inundation  which  overwhelmed  a  great  part  of  Europe  at 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  epoch,  and  produced  the 
domestic  animals  of  the  period  of  polished  stone,  which 
themselves  are  the  ancestors  of  our  modern  breeds. 

Besides,  how  can  we  reasonably  attribute  an  Asiatic 
origin  to  those  animals  under  domestication  as  early  as 
the  period  of  the  most  ancient  lake  dwellings,  and  even, 
as  we  shall  prove,  during  the  palaeolithic  age,  that  is  to 
say,  long  before  the  first  Aryan  migrations  of  which 
history  makes  mentic>n  ?  The  most  ancient  monuments, 
moreover,  bear  witness  to  the  existence  at  the  time  of 
their  construction,  more  than  sixty  centm'ies  before  Christ, 
of  several  of  our  modern  breeds,  or  at  any  rate  of  very 
similar  ones.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  this  fact  when  we 
see,  for  instance,  on  the  Egyptian  monuments  hunting-dogs 
with  short  nose  and  hanging  ears,  and  gi-eyhounds  with 
upright  ears,  which  closely  resemble  in  general  build  those 
employed  in  the  chase  by  modern  Egyptians. 

M.  Saint-Hilaire  himself,  although  an  avowed  partisan 
and  zealous  promoter  of  the  opinion  which  attributes  an 
Eastern  origin  to  most  of  our  domestic  mammalia,  con- 
siders the  different  varieties  of  dogs  above  mentioned  as 
breeds  already  considerably  modified  by  culture  ;  '  so  much 
so,'  he  says,  '  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  fix  the  date  of 
their  domestication  at  a  very  early  epoch,  even  compared 
with  that  remote  period  when  we  see  them  in  cuuipany 


262  PEmiTR^  CIVILISATION. 

with  the  Egyptian  hunters.'    ('  Acclimatation  et  Domesti- 
cation des  Animaux  Utiles,'  p.  214.) 

And  what  is  that  remote  period,  when  compared  with 
that  of  the  stone  age,  during  which  we  find  the  dog  of  the 
kitchen  middens  in  Denmark  ;  the  horse  at  Solutre  (rein- 
deer age) ;  and  a  hound  resembling  our  spaniel,  as  well  as 
several  oxen,  bearing  the  unmistakable  character  of  a 
domesticated  condition,  in  Switzerland  ? 

Besides,  if  the  dog,  the  ox,  the  horse,  &c.,  were  im- 
ported from  Asia  by  the  Aryan  emigrants,  it  is  hardly 
probable  that  they  would  not  have  been  accompanied  by 
the  Indian  elephant  and  the  Bactrian  camel ;  we  ought, 
therefore,  to  find  the  bones  of  these  two  species  mixed 
with  those  of  the  dogs,  the  oxen,  the  goats,  the  sheep  and 
pigs  which  they  are  said  to  have  brought  with  them. 
Now  no  such  discovery  has  hitherto  been  made  in  Europe, 
and  no  European  legend  makes  mention  either  of  the 
camel  or  the  elephant,  which  figure  largely  in  Hindu 
mythology.  Our  domestic  animals  may  therefore  have  an 
European  origin,  and  this  origin,  like  that  of  man  him- 
self, is  far  more  remote  than  was  at  first  supposed. 

De  Blainville  tells  us  in  his  '  Osteographie '  that  none 
of  the  modern  wild  species  produced  the  domestic  dog, 
but  that  its  original  stock  is  a  species  which  existed  dur- 
ing the  diluvian  period,  and  which  is  known  to  palaeonto- 
logists as  canis  famiiliaris  fossilis.  The  remains  of  this 
species  are  found  in  more  or  less  abundance  in  the  caves 
of  France,  Belgium,  and  Germany.  It  is  not  unreason- 
able to  suppose  that  this  dog  was  tamed  by  the  first  in- 
habitants of  our  continent,  and  that  it  passed  from  their 
hands  into  those  of  the  builders  of  the  lake  cities  and 
of  the  dolmens,  precisely  as  the  reindeer  of  the  period  of 
the  caves  became  domesticated  among  the  Lapps.  M.  de 
Mortillet  also  admits  that  the  canis  faoniliaris  fossilis 
may  have  been  the  ancestor  of  our  domestic  dog.  We 
have  already  said  that  the  earliest  traces  of  the  domesti- 
cation of  the  dog  were  found  by  Professor  Steenstrup  in 
the  kitchen  middens,  and  the  same  savant  believes  that 


DOMESTICATION   OF  THE   DOG.  263 

this  animal  was  domesticiitcd  in  Belgium  in  the  age  of 
the  mannnoth. 

Having  observed  that  all  the  hones  of  birds  mixed 
with  tlie  other  remains  only  retained  their  diaphysus  or 
shaft,  which  is  the  hardest  part,  while  the  heads  or  ex- 
tremities had  as  a  rnle  completely  disappeared,  Steen- 
strup  gave  similar  bones  to  domestic  dogs  to  gnaw  :  they 
only  left  the  shaft,  on  which  their  teeth  made  marks  pre- 
cisely similar  to  those  observed  on  the  bones  taken  from 
the  kitchen  middens.  Hence  Steenstrnp  concluded  that 
the  dog  was  already  the  companion  of  the  primitive  Dane 
in  the  chase,  and  the  sharer  of  his  meals.  It  might  be 
objected,  certainly,  that  the  bones  of  birds  which  form 
part  of  the  kitchen  refuse  might  have  been  gnawed  by 
wild  dogs,  wolves,  or  foxes  ;  but  the  fact  is  too  general, 
and  tallies  too  exactly  with  the  experiment  undertaken  in 
proof  of  the  Professor's  theory,  to  allow  of  our  refusing  to 
attach  any  faith  to  the  latter. 

If  this  conclusion  were  proved  to  be  strictly  correct, 
the  domestication  of  the  dog  took  place  at  a  very  early 
epoch — at  the  period  of  the  oldest  lake  dwellings  of  the 
neolithic  age,  and  perhaps  even  earlier.  Now  in  the  lake 
cities  two  distinct  species  of  dogs  were  found,  as  we  have 
seen  :  the  one  intermediate  in  size  between  the  watch- 
dog and  the  pointer ;  the  other,  more  recent  than  the 
preceding,  resembling  our  sheep-dog. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  dog  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  earlier  books  of  the  Bible.  Moses  does  not  speak 
of  it,  and  there  is  no  mention  of  it  in  the  book  of  Joshua 
or  in  that  of  Judges.  '  We  may  assume,  therefore,  that 
before  the  time  of  the  kings  the  Hebrews  did  not  possess 
the  dog,  although  they  must  have  known  this  animal  in 
Egypt,  where  it  was  domesticated  long  before  the  days 
of  Abraham.  The  name  of  the  dog  occurs  first  in  the  Bible 
in  the  Second  Book  of  Samuel,  which  tells  us  no  more 
than  that  the  expression,  "  head  of  a  dog,"  was  an  insult 
in  the  time  of  David  ;  then  the  author  of  the  Second 
Book  of  Kings  mentions  dogs,  but  only  to  relate  that 
they  devoured  the  body  of  Jezebel.     It  would  st*em  that 


264  PRIiVnTIVE   CIVILISATION. 

the  Hebrews  had  not  learnt  to  appreciate  the  good  quali- 
ties of  this  animal,  a  circumstance  by  no  means  to  their 
credit.'^ 

The  dog  is,  as  we  have  said,  fiiithfully  represented  on 
the  most  ancient  Egyptian  tombs.  It  is  even  figured  in 
a  leash  and  with  a  collar  round  the  neck.  It  is  therefore 
certain  that  the  Egyptians  domesticated  this  animal,  and 
had  obtained  several  breeds  distinct  from  the  original 
stock,  whatever  that  might  be.^ 

We  say  original  stock  and  not  stocks,  for  while  we 
admit  that  all  the  canine  breeds  may  have  sprung  from 
several  different  varieties,  we'  believe  that  all  European 
dogs  are  descended  from  the  single  canis  familiaris 
fossilis,  and  not  from  any  species  of  Eastern  origin. 
JNIoreover,  with  respect  to  the  greater  number  of  our 
European  domestic  species,  unity  of  ancestral  savage  type 
is  the  rule,  multiplicity  the  exception. ^ 

'  It  is  to  be  presumed,'  says  M.  H.  Milne-Edwards, 
Hhat  the  domestication  of  each  species  of  the  horse 
family  took  place  in  the  country  to  which  it  is  indigenous 
in  a  wild  state,  and,  consequently,  that  the  ass  was  tamed 
in  Africa,  and  the  horse  in  the  regions  occupied  by  the 
Aryan  race.'  But  he  is  careful  to  add,  '  the  horse  seems 
to  have  been  originally  a  native  of  Central  Asia  and  of  a 
part  of  Europe '  (Comrptes-rendus  de  rinstitut,  Dec. 
13,  1869). 

M.  Milne-Edwards  admits,  then,  that  the  horse  had  an 
European  as  well  as  an  Asiatic  origin.''      How  can  the 

>  Universal  Library  of  Geneva,  vol.  35,  p.  568. 

2  According  to  M.  Tonssaint  the  breeds  represented  on  the  most 
ancient  monuments  of  Egypt  are  a  greyhound  with  narrow  ears,  a 
mastiff,  a  poodle,  and  a  dog  with  hanging  ears.  (See  E.  Toussaint, 
Etvde  mr  V Oi-igine  du  Chien  domestiqve.) 

3  We  do  not  understand  how,  after  having  laid  down  this  principle, 
which  appears  to  be  tbe  expression  of  the  truth,  Hneckel  could  say 
almost  immediately  afterwards  that  'a  domestic  breed  is  never  de- 
scended from  a  single  corresponding  wild  species.'  {History  of  Creation.) 

*  We  must  also  attribute  an  African  origin  to  the  horse,  if  it  is  true 
that  a  type  with  five  lumbar  vertebrre  exists,  which  Sanson  says  is 
peculiar  to  Africa,  wliile  the  Asiatic  type  has  six.  Finally,  Mr.  Marsh 
says  boldly :  '  It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  the  horse  is  indigenous 
in  America.'     {Revue  Sckntijiqtw,  1678,  p.  1,071.) 


DOMESTICATION   OF   THE   HORSE.  2G5 

former  be  denied  when  we  see  the  horse  so  often  repre- 
sented on  reindeer  horn,  carved  or  engnived  by  the  artist 
hunters  of  Languedoc  and  Perigord  ?  Is  not  the  faithful 
representation  not  only  of  the  reindeer,  but  also  of  the 
mammoth,  the  ox,  the  saiga,  the  horse,  the  pig,  &c.,  proof 
positive  that  the  artists  had  these  animals  under  their 
eyes  and  almost  close  to  their  hand,  since  they  fed  upon 
their  flesh  and  hunted  them  continually  ?  These  horses  of 
the  fourth  epoch,  at  first  wild,  probably  became  domestic 
a  little  later,  that  is,  part  of  the  human  society,  and  were 
sheltered,  cared  for,  made  use  of  by  the  latter  as  it  gradu- 
ally advanced  towards  a  condition  of  life  less  rude,  less  pre- 
carious, less  adventiu-ous.  Is  it  likely  that  the  aborigines 
of  Europe,  impelled  by  the  same  necessities,  gifted  with 
the  same  instincts,  and  guided  by  the  same  feelings  as  the 
peoples  of  Asia,  waited  until  the  precise  moment  of  the 
invasion  of  the  latter  before  thinking  of  taming  an  animal 
whose  intelligence,  strength,  grace  and  rapidity  of  motion, 
not  to  speak  of  its  thick  hide  and  delicate  flesh,  they  must 
have  known  equally  well  how  to  appreciate  ? 

jNI.  Toussaint  for  his  part  believes  he  has  discovered 
traces  of  the  domestication  of  the  horse  at  the  epoch  of 
Solutre  (reindeer  age)  ;  '  and  long  before  ]Marcel  de  Serres 
had  pointed  out,  in  speaking  of  the  bones  of  the  same 
animal  found  in  the  caves  of  Bize  and  Lunel-Yiel,  modifi- 
cations which  led  him  to  the  same  conclusions  respecting 
an  earlier  epoch  than  that  of  Solutre.    The  cave  of  Lunel- 

'  In  support  of  his  conjectures  M.  Toussaint  draws  attention  to  the 
almost  complete  sirpilarity  of  the  bones  of  Solutre  with  tl  ose  of  tlie 
modern  animal.  The  only  dilTerence  consists  in  the  absence,  in  the  im- 
mense majority  of  adult  specimens  found  in  the  Cros  Charnier,  of  the 
union  between  the  metacarpal  and  metatarsal  rudimentary  or  lateral 
bones  (stylets),  and  the  principal  metacarpal  and  mptatarsal  bones 
(the  canons  of  veterinary  surgeons).  These  bones  are  always  united  in 
the  equus  cahaUus  of  to-day.  The  great  number  of  the  bones,  their 
aL:e  of  four,  five,  or  six  years,  the  asscmblaiie  in  one  place  of  all  the 
parts  of  the  skeleton,  are,  according  to  M.  Toussaint,  indications  that 
the  horses  of  Solutre  were  killed,  cut  up,  and  eaten  on  the  same  spot  as 
domestic  animals,  and  not  hunted  in  a  wild  state,  and  carried  from  a 
distance,  and  piecemeal,  as  was  the  case  in  tlie  earliest  caves  of  the 
arcJiieolithic  age.  (Toussaint  and  I'Abbe  Uucrost,  Da  Cuiual  daUb  la 
itatiun  prihutoi-ique  do  Solutre.) 


266  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

Viel  belongs  to  the  epoch  of  the  cave  bear  and  hyaena,  and 
probably  that  of  Bize  also  ;  but  some  archgeologist?  attri- 
iDute  it  to  the  reindeer  age. 

Professor  Gervais  dates  the  domestication  of  the  horse 
from  the  glacial  period.  Lastly,  in  a  recent  work  ('  Das 
Europiiische  Wildpferd  und  dessen  Beziehungen  zum  do- 
mesticirten  Pferde  '),  which  we  regret  to  say  we  only  know 
from  the  brief  analysis  which  M.  Vignier  has  made  of  it, 
Ecker  propounded  theories  very  similar  to  our  own  upon 
the  origin  of  the  domestic  horse.  He  says  that  the  Euro- 
pean horse  of  the  fourth  epoch  probably  gave  birth  to  the 
small  stunted  breed,  with  the  large  head,  rounded  forehead, 
and  short  neck,  which  is  found  in  fossil  at  Solutre,  and 
which  is  still  represented  by  the  wild  horses  of  the  Ehone 
delta,  and  of  the  steppes  of  Eussia.  But  he  adds  that  this 
primitive  breed  was  almost  entirely  supplanted  by  an 
Asiatic  breed,  larger  and  more  robust,  and  that  our 
domestic  horse  is  the  result  of  the  mixture  of  the  two 
races  ;  this  seems  probable,  if  not  absolutely  proved. 

We  may  add,  moreover,  that  as  M.  Pictet  himself 
admits,  the  most  trustworthy  anatomists  recognise  that 
the  great  majority  of  the  fossil  remains  of  the  horse  found 
In  Europe  resemble  so  closely  the  bones  of  the  Eqivus 
caballiis  of  modern  days,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
distinguish  them  from  each  other.  It  is  needless  to  draw 
the  conclusion.  This  theory  distances  the  opinion  of  some 
naturalists,  and  still  more  that  of  the  Emir  Abd-el-Kader, 
who  maintained  that  Abraham  was  the  tamer  of  the  first 
Arab  horse,  from  which  the  whole  race  is  descended.  So 
easily  does  national  pride,  joined  to  ignorance  of  fact,  alter 
the  history  of  nature  ! 

I  do  not  know  on  what  precise  documents  M.  Petermost 
founds  his  assertion,  that  the  Aryans  were  in  possession 
of  the  horse  from  the  year  19,350  B.C. ;  what  appears  cer- 
tain is  that  it  existed  in  China  2,350  years  before  our  era. 

We  have  already  mentioned  that  M.  JMilne-Edwards 
believes  that  the  ass  is  of  African  origin,  and  M.  F.  Lenor- 
mant  shares  his  opinion.  Philology  furnishes  a  proof  in 
Bupport  of  this  theory,  as  the  ass  has  a  name  of  Semitic 


AGE  OF  DOMESTICATED   HORSE.  2G7 

origin,  atou  (plural  atnot)  the  slow  animal,  while  the 
Latin  name  of  the  horse  is  allied  to  the  Sanscrit  a<^va^  the 
swift.  I 

To  the  data  furnished  by  philology  we  may  add  those 
gathered  from  the  representations  on  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tian monuments,  and  from  the  texts  of  the  Bible,  which 
all  tend  to  confirm  the  opinion  that  the  horse  and  the  ass 
were  originally  natives  of  totally  different  countries.  The 
horse  was  first  domesticated  on  the  high  grounds  of  Central 
Asia,  and  the  Aryan  emigrations  were  the  principal  agent 
in  its  ditfuiiion  over  the  globe ;  it  was  tamed  at  a  later 
date  by  the  Semitic  races,  and  only  appeared  in  Egypt 
about  2,500  years  before  the  Christian  era.  The  ass  is  an 
African  species,  which  was  probably  first  domesticated  on 
the  banks  of  the  Nile.  From  Egypt  it  early  passed  into 
the  hands  of  Semitic  tribes,  who  afterwards  introduced 
it  among  the  Aryans  of  Persia  and  Greece.  This  animal, 
which  finally  became  universally  used,  took  a  direction 
exactly  contrary  to  that  of  the  horse.  Starting  from 
opposite  points,  they  ended  by  meeting  and  by  being 
almost  everywhere  employed  together.'  {Comptes-rendus 
del'Institut,  Feb.  7,  1870,  p.  279.) 

But  etymologies,  however  learned,  are  by  no  means 
always  valuable  as  proofs  in  questions  of  natural  history  ; 
and,  moreover,  we  should  call  attention  to  a  fact  concern- 
ing the  ass  similar  to  that  observed  with  respect  to  the 
horse.  The  fossil  remains  of  the  former  animal  occur  in 
the  cave  of  Aurignac,  in  Belgium,  and  elsewhere.  Why, 
then,  may  we  not  assume  that  it  was  domesticated  by 
European  man  of  the  fourth  epoch  ? 

The  Ox. — After  a  careful  examination  of  the  bones  of 
the  horse,  the  ox,  the  goat,  the  sheep,  and  the  pig,  found 
in  the  Belgian  caves  of  the  reindeer  age.  Professor  Steen- 
strup  thought  he   was  justified   in   concluding  that  the 

'  From  the  plural  atnot  vre  have  the  primitive  Greek  form  Htvos, 
which  was  succeeded  by  uavos,  whence  were  derived  a/finii.'<,  ascfius, 
asi/us  (Gothic),  a.'<cl  (Old  English),  edl  (Old  High  German),  csel  (Modern 
Ciernian),  and,  las'ly,  vvos.  M.  Lenormant  tells  us,  moreover,  that 
atnot  is  from  iitu/ta,  to  walk  slowly. 


268  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

animals  to  which  these  bones  had  belonged  were  com- 
pletely, or  at  any  rate  partly,  domesticated.  He,  there- 
fore, attributed  to  all  of  them  a  purely  European  origin, 
and  this  also  is  the  opinion  professed  by  Cuvier  in  his 
later  works. 

Besides  the  uriis  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  lake 
cities  of  the  neolithic  age  hunted  in  their  forests,  and 
which  were  still  to  be  found  there  in  the  time  of  Caesar, 
the  lakes  have  preserved  the  remains  of  several  bovine 
species  from  which  Professor  Eiitimeyer,  well  known  by 
his  excellent  works  on  the  ancient  fauna  of  Helvetia, 
Owen,  and  Darwin  believe  that  several  of  our  modern 
breeds  are  descended.  Carl  Vogt  and  Cuvier  also  attribute 
an  European  origin  to  the  ox.  All  our  domestic  breeds  of 
cattle,  excepting  those  with  a  hump,  are  descended,  ac- 
cording to  Darwin,  from  three  species,  of  which  the  fossil 
remains  are  to  be  found,  but  which  no  longer  exist  in  a 
wild  state  ;  these  are  : — 

1.  Bos  primigeiiius,  domesticated  in  Switzerland 
from  the  epoch  of  polished  stone,  and  resembling  the 
modern  Frisian  breed  of  cattle. 

2.  Bos  longifrons  {B.  brachyceros,  Owen),  contem- 
porary in  Switzerland  with  the  preceding,  and  still  domes- 
tic in  England  during  the  Roman  occupation ;  this  species 
is  considered  by  Professor  Owen  to  be  the  original  stock 
from  which  the  black  cattle  of  Wales  and  the  Scotch 
Highlands  are  descended. 

3.  Lastly  the  Bos  frontosus  (Nilsson)  of  Scandinavia, 
the  companion  of  Bos  longifrons  in  the  fourth  epoch, 
and  afterwards  reduced  with  the  latter  to  a  state  of  do- 
mestication.^ 

The  paintings  of  the  sepulchres  of  Ancient  Egypt 
(paintings  which  go  back  nearly  to  the  age  of  polished 
stone)  represent  several  breeds  of  the  bovine  race  already 
bearing  the  yoke  and  harnessed  to  the  plough.  Some 
even  tigure   cows  without  horns,  whose  legs  have  been 

'  Carl  Vopft.  coixsiflers  ?fos  frontosus  and  hos  longifrons  to  be  merely 
varieties  of  bos  j)Hmlgonius. 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   GOAT   AND   SHEEP.  2G9 

tied  so  that  they  mii(ht  be  milked  in  the  presence  of  the 
calf,  which  is  allowed  to  remain  beside  them. 

Goat. — The  same  arguments  which  are  urged  in  favour 
of  attributing  an  European  origin  to  our  domestic  dogs, 
horses,  and  oxen,  apply  also  to  the  various  kinds  of  goats, 
sheep,  pigs,  cats,  and  rabbits.  Eare  in  the  caves  of  the 
paUeolithic  age,  common  in  the  lake  dwellings  of  the  neo- 
lithic period,  represented  in  the  paintings  of  the  fourth 
Egyptian  dynasty  wdth  hanging  ears  like  those  of  the 
modern  breed  in  that  country,  mentioned  by  the  primi- 
tive Aryans,  in  Genesis,  Homer  and  Greek  mythology 
(Amalthgea,  the  nurse  of  Zeus),  the  goat  was  domesticated 
from  the  earliest  times.  There  is,  therefore,  no  reason  why 
we  should  not  admit  several  primitive  stocks  from  whicli, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  dog,  the  horse,  and  the  ox,  our 
modern  breeds  of  goats  are  sprung.  The  principal  appear 
to  have  been  the  wild  goat  of  our  mountains,  perhaps  the 
Ca2:>ra  Hispanica,  discovered  by  Schimper  ;  the  wild  goat 
of  the  mountains  of  Asia,  or  the  paseng  of  the  Persians  ; 
lastly  the  Capra  Falconeri,  native  of  India. 

Sheep.- — More  recent  than  the  goat,  the  sheep  is 
nevertheless  found  with  it  in  the  lake  dwellings,  but  it  is 
rarer  than  the  latter  in  those  which  date  from  the  pahTeo- 
lithic  age.  In  the  lake  cities  of  the  age  of  bronze  it  only 
difters  from  our  modern  sheep  in  the  form  of  its  horns, 
which  resemble  those  of  the  Capra  hircus.  According  to 
M.  Koger  de  Guimps,  the  sheep  is  not  represented  in  the 
Egyptian  paintings  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  where,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  figure  of  the  goat  frequently  occurs.  Domesti- 
cated under  the  name  of  ovi  (whence  ovis,  6is)  among  the 
primitive  Aryans,  the  sheep  was  well  known  to  the  Hebrews 
and  to  the  Greeks  of  the  time  of  the  siege  of  Troy.  Homer 
makes  frequent  mention  of  them. 

Opinions  differ  with  respect  to  the  original  stock  of 
our  modern  breeds  of  domestic  sheep.  It  was  long  be- 
lieved, and  some  naturalists  still  hold  to  this  theory,  that 
the  modern  moujion  of  Sardinia  and  Northern  Africa  was 
the  parent  stock.  Professor  Gervais  and  M.  Fitzinger 
believe  that  our  modern  breeds  are  descended  from  one  or 


270  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

more  diluvian  species  now  completely  extinct ;  and  this  is 
also  my  opinion. 

The  Pig. — It  seems  little  doubtful  that  the  many  dif- 
ferent breeds  of  pigs  are  descended  from  several  distinct 
species.  Besides  the  wild  boar,  which  is  found  in  the 
caves,  and  which  was  easily  tamed,  we  find  in  the  earliest 
lake  dwellings : — 

1 .  A  smaller  species,  known  as  the  marsh  pig  {Sns 
scrofa  palustris),  and  which  appears  to  be  the  type  of  the 
porcine  family  in  the  Canton  of  the  Grrisons. 

2.  The  large  species  found  at  Cuncise,  very  similar  to 
our  modern  breed.  Both  species,  supposing  them  not  to 
be  merely  varieties  of  Sus  scrofa  ferns,  are  indigenous  to 
Europe.  Eeckoned  unclean  by  the  Eg}^tians,  the  pig 
occurs  nowhere  in  the  paintings  on  the  tombs.  I  need 
hardly  say  that  it  is  also  regarded  as  unfit  for  food  by  the 
Jews.  It  formed,  on  the  contrary,  a  considerable  item  in 
the  diet  of  the  Greeks  and  of  the  Gauls.  The  primitive 
Aryans  had  domesticated  this  animal  and  used  its  flesh 
for  food. 

According  to  Nathusius  all  the  breeds  of  pigs  may  be 
reduced  to  two  principal  types,  which  are  osteologically 
different — the  Sits  Indica  formerly  diffused  over  all  coun- 
tries, from  the  extreme  east  of  Asia,  where  it  still  exists 
in  Siam,  China,  and  Japan,  to  Western  Europe ;  to  this 
type  belongs  the  Sus  scrofa  'palastris.  The  other  is  the 
Bus  scrofa  ferus,  or  wild  boar,  whose  habitat  extends  from 
the  west  of  Europe  eastward  as  far  as  India,  and  from 
which,  in  our  own  opinion,  although  some  naturalists 
maintain  the  contrary,  our  modern  domestic  breed  is 
sprung.  We  are  assured,  and  M.  de  Guimps  repeats,  that 
when  crossed  these  two  species  are  extremely  prolific,  and 
that  all  the  most  improved  English  breeds  are  the  result 
of  the  mixture  of  the  two  races. 

Nearly  all  modern  naturalists  are  agreed  in  considering 
the  wild  boar  of  the  forests  as  the  source  of  our  domestic 
breeds.  M.  Sanson  alone  maintains  the  contrary  opinion, 
based  upon  the  fact  that  the  wild  boar  has  only  five  lumbar 
vertebrae,  whereas  the  domestic  pig  has  always,  according 


OKIGIN    OF   THE  PIG   AND    CAT.  271 

to  him,  six.  The  Chinese  pig  has  only  four.  Can  domes- 
tication, he  asks,  increase  or  diminish  the  number  of 
vertebrae  ?  Why  not,  since  it  has  produced  an  extra  toe 
upon  the  feet  of  some  of  our  canine  breeds,  since  it  has 
completely  modified  the  dental  system  of  certain  varieties 
of  the  same  species — the  greyhound  and  bulldog,  for  ex- 
ample ;  since  it  has  completely  removed  the  horns  from 
a  quite  modem  breed  of  cattle  ;  since  some  of  our  domes- 
tic sheep  have  two  and  even  four  pairs  of  horns ;  since, 
finally,  domestication  has  so  completely  altered  the 
skeleton  of  some  of  our  modern  breeds  of  pigeons,  that, 
were  they  found  in  a  wild  state,  they  would  probably  be 
considered  as  so  many  distinct  genera  ?  Moreover,  it  is 
well  known  that  any  organs  in  the  form  of  a  series,  and 
the  vertebrae  more  than  any  others,  are  subject  to  frequent 
numerical  variations.  The  arguments  urged  by  M.  Sanson 
do  not,  therefore,  seem  to  me  to  be  sufficiently  strong  to 
chcuige  the  generally  received  opinion  as  to  the  origin  of 
the  European  domestic  pig. 

Cat. — The  wild  instincts  of  the  cat  prevented  its  early 
domestication.  Its  flesh,  moreover,  is  unpalatable  and  its 
use  inconsiderable.  Hence  we  find  it  for  the  first  time  in 
Egypt,  forming  part  of  a  group  of  bronze  statuettes,  which 
represents  three  divinities,  at  whose  feet  lies  a  cat  suckling 
its  young.  Now  this  group,  according  to  M.  Eoger  de 
Guimps,  is  not  earlier  than  650  B.C. 

The  same  author  says  that  the  mummies  of  cats  of  the 
ancient  Egyptian  tombs  all  belong  to  species  then  wild  in 
that  country,  and  of  which  at  least  two,  the  Fells  ccdigidata 
and  the  Felis  biibastis,  retain  their  independence. 

It  was  only  in  the  middle  ages  that  the  domestic  cat, 
unknowTi  to  the  Aryans,  to  Moses,  to  Homer,  Aristotle 
and  Pliny,  was  introduced  into  Europe.  On  the  other 
hand,  ^I.  Saint-Hilaire  maintains  that  it  was  domesticated 
in  Egypt  from  the  earliest  antiquity.  Its  original  habitat 
was,  he  says,  the  north-east  of  Africa  and  the  east  of 
Asia,  and  all  our  feline  breeds  are  descended  from  the 
gloved  c'dt( Felis  inaniculata)of  Nubia  and  x\])yssinia,  and 
perhaps  also  from  an  Asiatic  species  hitherto  undetermined. 


272  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

But  why  should  we  go  so  far  to  seek  that  which  is 
perhaps  to  be  found  close  at  hand  ?  Why  should  we  not 
regard  the  Catus  ferns  of  the  quaternary  beds  as  the 
ancestor  of  the  Catus  ferns  of  our  forests,  and  the  latter 
as  the  stock  from  which  our  domestic  breed  is  sprung  ? 
Since  the  reindeer,  the  contemporary  of  the  mammoth 
and  cave-bear,  has  come  down  to  us  without  losing  its 
specific  identity,  why  should  it  not  be  the  same  in  the 
case  of  the  cat  and  many  animals  of  which  man  has  made 
conquest,  and  with  whose  typical  representants,  since 
modified,  his  bones,  or  the  products  of  his  primitive  in- 
dustry, are  mingled  ? 

Rabbit — Hare. — Among  our  domestic  animals  there  is 
one  in  particular  to  which  it  is  impossible  to  attribute  an 
Asiatic  origin,  namely,  the  rabbit,  the  Lepits  ciiniculiis  of 
Linnaeus.  Unknown  to  Aristotle,  who  makes  no  mention 
of  it,  and  even  to  Xenophon,  whatever  Cuvier  may  say, 
the  rabbit  was  still  uncommon  in  Greece  and  Italy  to- 
wards the  beginning  of  the  second  century  before  the 
Christian  era.  In  the  present  geographical  period  it 
seems  to  have  been  first  domesticated  in  Spain,  and  later 
in  France  ;  but  it  soon  multiplied  there  to  such  a  degree, 
especially  in  the  south,  that  '  this  pernicious  animal,'  says 
Strabo,  extended  its  ravages  from  Spain  to  Marseilles.  In 
the  time  of  Pliny  the  breed  had  become  so  numerous  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Balearic  Isles  were  constrained  to 
seek  military  aid  against  the  rabbits  :  Auxiliwin  Tiiilitare 
a  divo  Augusta  petituon. 

The  remains  of  the  hare  and  of  the  rabbit  are  abundant 
in  the  diluvian  beds  of  France ;  there  is  no  reason,  there- 
fore, to  prevent  our  considering  the  rabbit  found  in  a  fossil 
condition  in  Central  Europe  {Lepus  priscus,  Piette)  as  the 
source  of  our  domestic  breeds.  But  this  domestication 
took  place  late  probably,  if  it  is  true  that  primitive  Euro- 
pean man  long  rejected  as  unclean  the  flesh  of  Lepus 
thnidns}     It  is  certain  that  Ed.  Lartet  discovered  none 

*  It  is  well  known  that  the  Jews  also  considered  the  flesh  of  tht 
hare  and  rabbit  unclean.  The  liomans  were  far  from  sharing  this 
repugnance ;  for  Martial  does  homage  to  the  hai-e  in  the  verse :  — 

Inter  q^uadrujjcdcs  gloQ'ia  jfo'ima  lepus. 


HIE   REINDKER.  273 

of  the  bones  of  the  hare  in  those  of  the  Pyrenean  caves 
which  were  inhabited  exclusively  by  man,  neither  have 
any  been  found  in  the  Danish  kitchen  middens.  In  our 
owu  day  the  Lapps  and  a  few  other  European  tribes  still 
hold  the  flesh  of  the  hare  and  rabbit  in  abhorrence. 

Re'uideer. — The  question  as  to  whether  or  no  this 
animal  was  domesticated  by  quaternary  man  is  still  an 
open  one.  But  who  would  dream  of  looking  for  its 
original  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Oxus  or  of  the  Ganges  ? 
Is  it  not  more  natural  to  suppose  that  it  was  at  least 
partly  domesticated  towards  the  end  of  the  period  which 
bears  its  name,  and  in  those  districts  where  its  bones  are 
now  found  ?  Such  at  least  is  the  opinion  of  Virchow  and 
of  Fraas,  who  date  the  domestication  of  the  reindeer  in 
Germany  from  about  the  time  of  the  cave  of  La  Madelaine.^ 
]MM.  Gervais  and  Piette  also  admit  the  domestication  of 
the  reindeer  in  the  latter  half  of  the  palgeolithic  age.  Dr. 
Noulet  seems  disposed  to  think  that  from  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  epoch  the  reindeer  filled  an  important  posi- 
tion in  the  life  of  those  families  who  had  made  them- 
selves masters  of  it;  but  this  subject,  like  so  many  others 
under  our  consideration,  requires  renewed  and  more  ac- 
curate investigation. 

According  to  Kiitimeyer  the  cave  of  Kesslerloch  has 
furnished  no  proof  that  its  inhabitants  were  in  possession 
of  domestic  animals.  The  almost  complete  absence  of 
dogs  makes  this  supposition  highly  probable.  However, 
the  repose  of  the  attitude  of  the  horse,  the  truth  of  that 
of  the  pig  in  the  drawings  they  have  made  of  those 
animals,  are  an  argument  in  favour  of  the  contrary 
opinion.     However  this  may  be,  we  have  under  our  eyes 

*  M.  Fraas  adduces  philological  grounds  whose  strict  accuracy  we 
cannot  warrant  in  support  of  liis  opinion,  Itindrieh  in  German,  he 
says,  means  lar.irc  cattle.  Kow  the  root  of  this  word  is  rcnnen,  to  run, 
whence  lienuthier,  the  swift  animal  ^^rt^?'  excellence.  Hence  he  con- 
cludes that  tlie  domestication  of  the  reindeer  preceded  that  of  the  ox 
which  replaced  it,  and  of  which  the  wild  stock  has  retained  the  name 
of  Urochs.  Even  after  the  ox  had  begun  to  share  the  labour  of  man 
the  herds  of  large  cattle  were  still  known  as  Rindvich,  that  is  to  say, 
reindeer  herds. 


274  PBIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

the  remains  of  an  ancient  fauna  uniting  in  a  single  spot 
animals  now  scattered  over  every  part  of  the  earth,  and 
whose  simultaneous  existence,  as  Mile.  J.  Mestorf  justly 
remarks,  was  not  formerly  even  suspected. 

Birds.— Vie  will  say  nothing  of  the  birds,  reptiles,  or 
fishes  found  in  the  caves,  in  the  kitchen  middens,  or  be- 
neath the  lake  dwellings,  since  it  is  agreed  by  all  the 
authors  who  have  written  upon  this  subject,  that  no 
species  of  any  of  these  three  classes  was  domesticated  by 
the  primitive  Europeans,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  by 
the  Europeans  anterior  to  the  Aryans. 

Invertebrate  Animals. — There  is  nothing  to  show 
that  quaternary  European  man  turned  any  of  these  to 
account.  He  might  perhaps  have  gathered  the  honey  of 
the  bee,  which  has  been  since  domesticated;  but  it  is 
clear  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  silkworm,  cultivated 
by  the  Chinese,  who  knew  how  to  spin  its  silk  2,700  years 
before  our  era. 

Conclusions. — To  sum  up :  the  greater  number  of  our 
domestic  animals,  commonly  regarded  as  originally  natives 
of  Central  Asia,  are  on  the  contrary  of  European  origin. 
Their  primitive  stock,  whether  single  or  multiple,  it 
matters  little  which,  goes  back  in  the  case  of  many  of 
them  to  a  remote  geological  antiquity,  that  is  to  say,  at 
least  as  far  as  the  fourth  epoch. 

'  It  is  very  unlikely,'  says  M.  de  Quatrefages,  '  that 
previous  to  our  epoch  man  always  lived  alone,  without 
any  of  those  allies  in  which  he  has  trusted  from  all  an- 
tiquity. It  is  not  more  probable  that  his  earliest  com- 
panions perished  completely  at  the  time  of  the  last  great 
upheaval,  while  their  master  alone  survived  it.  It  is 
therefore  very  possible  that  some  at  least  of  our  domestic 
animals  are  directly  descended  from  species  contemporary 
■with  the  first  men,  and  have  their  origin  consequently  in 
a  geological  period  anterior  to  that  in  which  we  live.' 
{Revue  des  Cours  Scientijiques,  July  1868.) 

It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  this  same  original 
stock  may  exist  no  longer,  except  in  a  fossil  state.  That 
of  the  dog,  of  the  horse,  of  the  ox,  &c.,  are  cases  in  point. 


OKIGIN   OF  DOMESTIC   ANIMALS.  275 

We  arc  so  accustomed  to  look  to  the  East  for  the  sohition 
of  simihir  problems  to  those  under  consideration,  that  we 
forget  what  lies  near  at  hand,  and  may  furnish  a  simpler 
explanation.  We  do  not,  however,  deny  that  several  species 
or  varieties,  very  similar  to  our  own  domestic  ones,  may 
have  to  come  to  us  from  the  East,  and  have  formed  half- 
breeds  and  different  varieties  by  mingling  with  the 
breeds  already  existing  in  Europe.  The  Eastern  origin  of 
certain  species  now  domesticated  among  us  is  open  to  no 
manner  of  doubt.  Such  are,  for  example,  the  peacock,  a 
native  of  India,  the  common  pheasant,  brought  from  the 
banks  of  the  Phasis  after  the  expedition  of  the  Argonauts; 
the  cock  perhaps,  and  the  silkworm,  cultivated  in  China 
for  nearly  three  thousand  years. 

A  few  animals  only  come  to  us  from  Africa.  The 
guinea  fowl,  the  canary,  and  perhaps  also  the  ferret,  are 
instances.  Others,  lastly,  have  been  imported  fromAmerica 
at  a  comparatively  recent  epoch.  These  are  the  guinea 
pig,  the  turkey,  the  musk  duck,  improperly  termed  the 
Barbary  duck,  the  Canada  goose,  and  the  cochineal  from 
Nepal.  To  Europe  belong,  in  our  opinion,  the  dog,  the 
cat,  the  horse,  the  ass,  the  pig,  the  ox,  the  goat,  the 
sheep,  the  rabbit;  among  birds  the  pigeon,  the  common 
fowl,'  the  duck,  the  common  goose,  the  swan,  and  among 
insects,  the  bee  (Apis  mellifica^  Linnaeus). 

We  must  not  conclude  this  chapter  without  referring 
to  a  fact  of  great  importance  lately  revealed  to  us  by 
paheontology.  I  mean  the  discovery  of  the  remains  of 
the  horse,  and  even  of  several  species  or  varieties  of  the 
horse  {Equus  neogceus,  major,  &c.)  in  the  post-pliocene 
or  quaternary  beds  of  South  Carolina,  Buenos  Ayres, 
Brazil,^  Chili,  &c.  Now  it  is  well  known  that,  previous  to 
the  Conquest,  horses  were  unknown  in  America,  and 
that  those  of  the  conquerors  inspired  them  with  astonish- 

'  M.  Piette  says  he  found  in  the  cave  of  Gourdan,  of  the  palicolitliic 
period,  some  bones  of  birds  which  he  attributes  to  a  variety  of  the 
domestic  fowh 

^  According  to  Lund  the  horses  of  tlie  Bra7ilian  caves  are  in  every 
respect  similar  to  our  modern  horses.  See  Biblivthrque  Universclle  of 
Geneva,  Archives,  vol.  v.  p.  37,  1859. 


2V6  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

inent,  not  unmingled  with  fear.  In  the  same  districts 
were  found  bones  of  dogs,  pigs,  oxen,  and  sheep,  which  so 
closely  resemble  those  of  our  modern  breeds  as  to  be  mis- 
taken for  the  latter.  Had  these  also  an  Eastern  origin,  or 
must  we  suppose,  with  Professor  Agassiz,  that  they  belong 
to  a  special  and  completely. independent  centre  of  creation  ? 
Must  we  believe  that  these  species,  apparently  identical 
with  ours,  lived  simultaneously  in  the  Old  and  New  Con- 
tinents at  the  beginning  of  the  fom'th  epoch,  but  that 
they  became  extinct  in  America  without  having  been 
domesticated  there,  while  the  domestication  of  these  same 
species  took  place  in  Europe  and  Asia,  and  that  they  here 
survived  their  American  brethren  until  our  own  day  ? 
Did  the  latter  disappear  from  their  country  long  before 
the  time  when  we  transported  thither  our  breeds  of  dogs, 
horses,  oxen,  sheep,  goats,  pigs,  &c.,  which  have  since 
multiplied  almost  to  excess,  and  become  so  wonderfully 
modified?  Or,  finally,  must  we  suppose,  as  the  Abbe 
Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  is  inclined  to  believe,  that  the 
New  World  civilized  the  Old,  especially  Egypt  and  Libya, 
transporting  thither  its  domestic  animals,  its  industry,  its 
hieroglyphic  characters,  and  even  its  religion  so  deeply 
tinged  with  zoomorphism  and  anthropomorphism  ?  So 
profound  is  still  the  obscurity,  and  so  impenetrable  are  the 
veils  which  still  envelop  these  questions,  all  important  to 
the  hiscory  of  humanity. 

IV.     ORIGIN  OP  OITR  CULTIVATED  PLANTS. 

It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  attribute  a  foreign  or 
Eastern  origin  to  all  our  plants  at  present  under  culti- 
vation. Indeed,  one  of  the  most  eminent  botanists  of 
modern  times,  Oswald  Heer,  declares  it  to  be  established 
beyond  all  dispute,  that  the  plants  which  flourish  to-day 
in  the  canton  of  Zurich  in  a  wild  state  are  the  continu- 
ation of  the  diluvian  flora.  He  holds  the  same  opinion 
with  regard  to  half  the  Alpine  plants,  those,  that  is  to  say, 
which  grow  upon  the  peaks  of  the  Swiss  mountains.  The 
other  half  belong  to  types  brought  from  Scandinavia  by 
the  immense  erratic  blocks  which  the  diluvian  glaciers 


ORIGIN   OF  PLANTS.  277 

carried  from  Ihe  mountains  of  Germany  to  the  Alps,  then 
recently  upheaved,  and  as  far  as  the  Vosges  and  the  Jura. 

As  to  the  cultivated  plants  which,  with  those  of  the 
valleys  and  the  Alpine  species  properly  so  called,  form  the 
three  elements  which  constitute  the  modern  Swiss  flora, 
the  following  are  Heer's  words  with  respect  to  them  : — 'The 
ancestors  of  many  of  our  modern  cultivated  vegetables 
were  originally  indigenous  to  our  soil.  The  great  revo- 
lutions which  overwhelmed  their  country,  and  changed 
its  configuration,  drove  them  from  it,  and  it  was  not  until 
a  later  period  that  their  descendants  returned  to  it,  them- 
selves unchanged.  They  now^  seem  to  be  foreigners 
amongst  us,  yet  they  are  descended  from  the  true  natives, 
which  thus  show  what  great  modification  plants  undergo.' 
{Ann.  Sc.  Nat.  vol.  iii.  1865,  p.  183.) 

We  give  some  examples  borrowed  from  the  author  of 
this  remarkable  work  on  antediluvian  botany. 

Oiu:  hazel  is  probably  sprung  from  an  allied  species 
{Corylus  Mac-Quarrii,  Forb.)  which  flourished  in  the 
miocene  period.  The  Fagus  deucalionis  (Unger),  very 
common  in  Switzerland  during  the  same  epoch,  but  still 
unknown  in  Denmark  and  even  in  Normandy  during  the 
age  of  stone,  is  considered  to  be  the  primitive  type  of  our 
modern  beech.  A  plantain  tree  hardly  to  be  distinguished 
from  that  of  America  ;  a  species  of  Cyprus,  and  the  liquid- 
ambar  also  grew  formerly  in  the  Helvetian  forests.  A 
walnut  closely  resembling  ours,  which  disappeared  from 
Switzerland  after  the  formation  of  the  tertiary  miocene 
strata,  was  preserved  in  Persia  and  on  the  mountains  of 
Asia  by  means  of  an  allied  species.  At  a  later  period  it 
was  reintroduced,  first  into  Greece,  then  at  Rome,  in  the 
time  of  the  kings,  and  reappeared  in  the  Alpine  valleys. 

M.  Gaston  de  Laporta,  well  known  by  his  valuable 
works  on  vegetable  palaeontology,  also  reports  numerous 
examples  which  prove  the  possibility  of  deriving  from 
indigenous  antediluvian  types  a  large  number  of  cultivated 
vegetables,  which  are  commonly  supposed  to  be  of  exotic 
and  comparatively  recent  origin.  I  need  only  mention  a 
few  instances. 
13 


278  PEIMITIVE  CmLISATION. 

I  shall  not  dispute  the  story  that  Noah  planted  the 
vine  in  Judea  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  this  plant  is  far  more 
ancient  than  Noah,  since  to  find  its  original  stock  \\  e  must 
go  back  to  the  oldest  tertiary  strata. 

Our  bay  laurel  {Nerium  Oleander,  Linnaeus)  dates 
through  its  ancestors  {Nerium,  Rohlii)  from  the  epoch  of 
the  formation  of  the  upper  chalk  beds,  and  before  attain- 
ing its  present  form  it  passed  successively  through  those 
of  the  N.  Parisiense  (eocene  beds  of  the  Seine  basin),  of 
the  N.  Sarthacense  (mean  eocene  sandstone  of  the 
Sarthe),  of  the  N.  repertuTn  (upper  eocene,  gypsum  of 
Aix),  of  the  N.  Gaudryanum  (lower  miocene),  of  the 
N,  Oleander  jjliocenicion  of  Provence  (lower  pliocene) ; 
all  of  which  forms  differ  but  little  from  each  other,  and 
of  which  the  last,  N.  Oleander  pliocenicum)  so  closely 
resembles  our  modern  bay  laurel  as  to  be  specifically 
confounded  with  it. 

Similar  modifications  hare  taken  place  in  the  palaeocene 
stock  {Laurus  Omalii)  of  the  noble  or  poet's  laurel  (Lau- 
rus  nobilis),  of  which  the  successive  stages,  beginning 
with  the  most  recent  types,  are  as  follows :  the  L.  Cana- 
riensis  of  the  lower  pliocene  strata  of  the  Meximieux,  a 
species  which  still  exists  in  the  Canary  Isles  ;  the  L, 
princeps  of  the  upper  miocene  beds ;  the  L.  primigenia 
of  the  gypsum  of  the  upper  eocene  beds  near  Aix ;  the 
L.  Decaisneana  (mean  eocene) ;  lastly,  the  L.  Oonalii, 
the  earliest  form  (palaeocene). 

Our  European  ivy  {Hedera  helix)  also  dates  back 
beyond  the  tertiary  epoch  to  the  H.  primordicdis  of  the 
chalk  beds,  which,  before  producing  our  common  ivy,  has 
passed  through  the  forms  of  Hedera  prisca  of  Sezanne  ; 
H.  Philiberti  of  the  gypsum  of  Aix ;  H.  Kargii  of 
QCnigen ;  H.  acutelohata  of  Dernbach ;  H.  Mac-Quarni 
of  Greenland  ;  H.  Strozzi  of  Tuscany. 

We  must  not  forget  to  say  that  many  vegetable  types 
which  now  occupy  the  warm  or  temperate  regions  of 
Europe  are  sprung  from  Arctic  types  which  were  distributed 
all  over  the  continent  during  the  whole  of  the  miocene 
period.     Several  sequoia,  the  liquidambars,  the  beech,  the 


REMOTENESS   OF   ORIGIN.  27ft 

lime,  willows,  alders,  birches,   elms,  maples,  ashes,  and 
walnuts,  &c.,  may  be  cited  as  examples. 

It  does  not  enter  into  the  plan  of  this  book  to  en- 
deavour to  determine  the  origin  of  all  the  plants  now 
under  cultivation,  and  to  trace  all  their  varieties.  I  have 
said  enough  to  prove  that  this  origin  must  be  sought  in  a 
more  distant  time,  and  in  a  nearer  place  than  it  was 
formerly  supposed,  indeed  than  many  still  imagine. 


2S0  PEIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

NAVIGATION  AND    COMMERCE, 

I.    NAVIGATION. 

His  breast  must  have  been  bound  with  a  triple  circle  of 
bronze,  as  Horace  says,  who  first  ventured  to  trust  himself 
to  the  mercy  of  the  waves  on  a  tree  trunk  hollowed 
with  the  axe  and  wdth  fire,  or  in  a  frail  craft  made  of 
birch,  bark,  reeds,  or  the  skin  of  sea-cows. 

The  canoe,  formed  of  a  single  trunk,  was  the  first  type 
of  the  great  three-masted  ship  and  of  the  ironclad.  Some- 
times pointed  at  both  ends,  sometimes  with  sharp  bows 
and  square  stern,^  the  canoes  were  doubtless  used  by  the 
Danes  of  the  age  of  stone  to  seek  their  food  in  the  open 
sea,  to  which  practice  the  numerous  molluscs  and  sea-fish 
whose  remains  still  lie  in  heaps  on  the  shores  of  the 
Baltic  bear  witness.  The  inhabitants  of  the  earliest  Swiss 
lake  dwellings  used  them  for  the  same  purpose. 

Moreover,  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  first 
attempts  at  navigation  date  from  the  archfeolithic  age, 
when  w^e  find,  buried  twenty  or  thirty  yards  below  the 
beds  of  rivers  in  Scotland,  England,  France,  and  Italy, 
canoes  still  containing  the  stone  axe  with  which  they  were 
hollowed,  and  lying  beside  bones  of  men  and  of  the  Elephas 
prir)iigenius  or  mammoth,  with  whom  they  were  con- 
temporary. 

Some  of  these  canoes,  belonging  to  the  age  of  polished 
stone,  are  of  considerable  dimensions.  Such  were,  for 
example,  those  found  at  Eobenhausen,  Glasgow,  Saint- 

>  In  spite  of  .their  great  antiquity  the  canoes  of  the  Swiss  lake 
dwellings  resemble  in  every  respect  those  of  the  islanders  of  the  Pacific. 


BEGINNIXG    OF  NAVIGATION.  281 

Valery,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Somme,  which  were  no  less 
than  ten  to  fifty  feet  long  by  two  to  four  wide.  Tliey 
were  all  of  oak,  formed  of  a  single  trunk,  and  shaped  out- 
side and  in  with  more  or  less  skill.  It  is  almost  unneces- 
sary to  say  that  they  were  all  propelled  by  oars  and  not 
by  sails.  The  use  of  the  latter  was  long  unknown  to 
European  man  as  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  New  World, 
always  excepting  the  ancient  Peruvians. 

Several  canoes  not  less  than  twelve  feet  long  by  three 
wide  have  been  dug  up  in  the  British  Isles ;  they  were 
furnished  at  both  ends  with  a  species  of  handle,  which 
seems  to  indicate  that  they  were  carried  like  the  bark 
canoes  used  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  shores  of  the 
North  American  lakes. 

The  Phoenicians  can,  therefore,  no  longer  be  regarded 
as  the  earliest  navigators  in  our  seas,  although  they  had 
touched  the  shores  of  Spain  and  settled  in  that  country 
before  the  time  of  Homer.  At  a  far  more  remote  epoch 
men  acquainted  with  at  least  the  rudiments  of  navigation 
brought  from  Sardinia  to  Elba  and  the  neighbouring 
Island  of  Pianosa,  pieces  of  black  obsidian  rock,  foreign  to 
these  islands,  from  which  the  inhabitants  made  knives  as 
sharp  as  those  of  Mexico.  The  numerous  flint  implements 
found  in  the  same  islands  were  brought  thither  from  the 
country  since  known  as  France. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  with  such  craft  long 
voyages  undertaken  for  trading  purposes  were  impossible. 
But  it  is  perhaps  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  sea  formed 
an  impassable  barrier  to  these  early  navigators.  Authen- 
ticated facts,  quoted  by  trustworthy  authors — Humboldt, 
Kane,  and  Wilson,  for  example — prove  that  this  assertion 
is  too  sweeping.  Thus  the  kayak  of  an  Eskimo  fisher- 
man, who  was  found  living  on  the  shores  of  Scotland,  is 
preserved  in  the  museum  at  Aberdeen.  Other  Eskimos 
of  Greenland  and  Labrador  have  been  more  than  once 
carried  by  ocean  currents  from  the  New  to  the  Old  World. 
Lastly,  Wilson  cites  the  recent  example  of  a  Japanese 
junk  which  was  shipwrecked  in  Oregon,  and  whose  crew 


282  PEIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

was  found  captive  among  the  Indians  of  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Territory  ('  Prehistoric  Slan,'  p.  100). 

Nothing,  therefore,  is  opposed  to  the  belief  that  our 
ancestors  of  the  stone  age  were  acquainted  with  a  very 
simple  form  of  navigation,  dangerous  and  necessarily  very 
limited  in  extent. 

Even  in  our  own  day,  however,  the  Clalam  Indians  of 
the  Straits  of  Fuca  hollow  out  of  cedar  trunks  with  their 
stone  axes,  canoes  fifty  feet  long,  capable  of  containing  a 
crew  of  thirty  men.  With  these  canoes  they  brave  the 
tempests  of  the  Pacific,  and  venture  even  to  harpoon  the 
whale,  which  they  prevent  from  diving  by  floats  of  seals' 
skins  filled  with  air  and  attached  to  the  harpoon  by  long 
cords.  More  simple  canoes  made  from  the  stem  of  a  palm 
tree  are  used  by  the  Yucucari  Indians  in  travelling  with 
their  children  and  goods.  They  put  both  into  the  canoe, 
and  the  husband  and  wife  swimming  one  on  either  side, 
they  thus  make  between  thirty  and  forty  miles  a  day. 
Our  primitive  barks  may  have  served  the  same  purpose, 
and  may  often  have  been  propelled  in  like  manner. 

The  inhabitants  of  those  vast  districts  intersected  by 
lakes  and  rivers,  which  extend  from  the  Gulf  of  Saint 
Lawrence  to  the  Pacific  construct  light  and  elegant  boats 
from  thin  planks  of  cedar  wood  covered  with  birch-bark, 
which  they  carry  from  one  lake  to  another  just  as  a  Eu- 
ropean traveller  sometimes  carries  his  portmanteau  from 
one  railway  station  to  another.^  Lastly,  we  know  the 
balsas  or  rafts,  which  cannot  sink,  of  the  ancient  Peru- 
vians, constructed  from  beams  of  a  light  porous  wood 
covered  with  a  flooring  of  reeds.  They  were  provided 
with  two  masts  supporting  a  large  woollen  or  cotton  sail, 

>  The  name  poHagcis  given  to  those  parts  of  the  mainland  traversed 
by  travellers  when  oiDliged  to  bear  on  their  shoulders  the  canoe  and  its 
contents.  Some  of  these  barks,  which  are  at  least  four  yards  long, 
weigh  barely  thirty  pounds.  Those  called  master  canoes  are  longer  and 
wider,  and  consequently  heavier.  '  The  Egyptians  of  the  time  of 
Juvenal,  and  even  those  of  our  own  day,  launch  on  the  Nile  rafts  made 
of  earthenware  vases  bound  together  by  cords,  covered  with  canes,  and 
moved  along  the  current  by  oars.  Arrived  at  their  destination,  th(>y 
break  the  raft  and  sell  the  vessels  at  the  bazaar.'  (Wilson,  Prehistorid 
Man,  p.  98.) 


ANCIENT   AND  MODERN   NAVIGATION.  283 

with  a  tiller  and  a  movable  keel.  Simpler  balsas  now 
used  upon  the  Lake  of  Chiquito  in  Bolivia  are  merely 
formed  of  two  thick  bundles  of  reeds  five  or  six  yards  long. 
They  are  propelled  by  means  of  a  sail  also  made  of  plaited 
reeds,  or  by  oars.  The  canoes  naturally  recall  to  mind 
the  coracles  of  the  ancient  Britons,  the  baydars  of  the 
Aleutian  Isles,  and  still  more  the  kayaks  in  which  the 
Eskimos  brave  the  winds  and  waves  in  perfect  safety.^ 

But  what  an  immense  distance  separates  the  primitive 
canoes,  the  coracles,  the  baydars,  the  kayaks,  and  the 
balsas,  from  our  sailing  vessels,  and  above  all  from  those 
formidable  ships  moved  by  steam  with  a  power  which 
modern  science  strengthens  or  moderates  at  will ! 

It  was  only  by  a  strong  reinforcement  of  men,  by 
means  of  a  treble  rank  of  rowers,  even  in  the  time  of 
Darius  and  Xerxes  that  the  galleys  cut  their  way  through 
the  waves  of  the  Hellespont. 

'  Our  ships  of  war,'  says  M.  Michel  Chevalier,  '  are 
furnished  with  engines  nominally  of  fourteen  thousand 
horse-power ;  but  as  their  possible  force,  only  employed 
in  case  of  necessity,  is  five  times  as  great,  they  are  really 
engines  of  seventy  thousand  horse-power.  As  the  horse 
of  steam  is  twice  as  strong  as  the  animal  of  flesh  and 
blood,  and  as  the  engine  works  night  and  day,  whereas 
the  hack  or  the  plough  horse  can  seldom  go  more  than 
eight  hours,  a  steam  horse  does  the  work  of  six  of  these 
animals,  which  we  nevertheless  consider  such  useful  and 
convenient  servants.  Here,  then,  is  a  machine  which  alone 
represents  four  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  horses  at 
work.  With  the  exception  of  the  unparalleled  army 
which  Napoleon  led  across  the  Niemen,  en  route  for 
Moscow  in  the  summer  of  1812,  I  do  not  think  there  has 
ever  been  in  modern  times  a  single  army  containing  so 
great  a  number  of  horses.' 

'  The  kayahs  are  barks  made  of  a  light  wooden  framework,  covered 
on  the  outside  with  the  skins  of  seals  tilled  with  air,  strongly  sewn  and 
wrapped  closely  round  the  waist  of  the  single  and  almost  ampliibious 
occupant  of  the  boat.  The  baydars  are  also  canoes  made  of  a  single 
8^in,  or  of  several  sewn  together,  and  they  are  used  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Aleutian  Islands  to  cross  the  Pacific. 


284  PKIMITIYE   CIVILISATION. 

II.    COMMERCE. 

How  far  the  commercial  relations  of  the  primitive 
people  of  Europe  extended,  and  what  routes  they  followed, 
is  a  question  of  which  the  solution,  like  that  of  so  many 
others,  is  as  yet  merely  guessed  at.  However,  the 
presence  of  amber  from  the  Baltic,  and  of  white  Mediter- 
ranean coral  in  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  elsewhere;  of 
carved  flints  in  abundance  in  the  Isle  of  Elba,  where  this 
rock  does  not  exist  in  a  natural  state ;  arrows  made  of  the 
black  obsidian  of  Sardinia,  found  in  the  same  island  and 
in  that  of  Pianosa;  the  jade  axe  found  at  Pauilhac,  in  the 
department  of  Gers ;  those  of  augite  of  Auvergne  found 
in  Brittany ;  the  green  turquoise  of  Brittany  discovered  in 
several  dolmens  in  the  south  of  France  :  all  these  articles, 
of  which  the  rough  material  is  foreign  to  the  country  where 
they  are  found,  prove  that  from  the  earliest  ages,  more  or 
less  extended,  commercial  relations  existed  among  the 
most  ancient  inhabitants  of  Europe.  Indeed,  there  is 
nothing  more  natural  than  this  exchange  between  two 
neighbouring  tribes.  The  jade  axes  found  in  many  parts 
of  the  European  continent — at  Concise  andMeilen,  for  ex- 
ample— have  even  led  to  the  belief  that  exchanges  were 
made  between  this  continent  and  the  eastern  regions  of 
Asia,  a  trade  which  could  only  be  carried  on  by  means  of 
long  and  dangerous  voyages,  hardly  to  be  reconciled  in 
our  opinion  with  the  infancy  of  navigation. 

But  before  admitting  this  hypothesis,  it  is  as  well  to 
be  certain  that  these  axes  come  from  the  East,  and  that 
they  are  made  of  Oriental  jade.  M.  de  Mortillet  strongly 
maintains  the  contrary  opinion.  He  thinks  that  this  sup- 
posed Oriental  jade  is  simply  a  serpentine  stone,  more  or 
less  impregnated  with  silica,  and  formerly  rather  common 
in  the  Swiss  Alps  and  in  the  Apennines.  The  primitive 
Europeans  could  pass  from  hand  to  hand  by  means  of  ex- 
change and  by  land  journeys,  or  at  least  journeys  along 
the  great  rivers,  the  axes  of  supposed  Oriental  jade  really 
Tuanufactured  from  some  indigenous  quartzo-serpentine 
rock. 


PREHISTORIC   TRADE.  285 

Moreover,  the  researches  of  M.  Daniour  '  sli^w  tliat  the 
most  different  matters  have  been  classed  together  under  the 
name  of  nephritus,  such  as  agate,  jasper,  diorite,  serpen- 
tine, petro-silica,  &c.,  and  generally  all  hard,  tenacious,  and 
dense  rock,  whose  mineralogic  nature  was  not  well  known. 
Perhaps  this  supposed  Oriental  jade  comes  into  this 
category.  jNI.  de  Quatrefoges  is  among  the  number  of 
those  who  think  that  these  nephritus  or  jade  axes,  found 
in  France  and  elsewhere,  have  been  conveyed  thither  from 
Asia  by  means  of  barter.  It  is  not  absolutely  impossible 
that  this  is  the  case,  but  there  are  no  valid  proofs  in 
support  of  an  opinion  as  little  certain  as  the  contrary  one. 

i\I.  Nicolucci  denies  in  so  many  words  the  assertions 
of  M.  G-.  de  Mortillet.  He  said  in  1871,  speaking  at  the 
Prehistoric  Congress  of  Bologna:  'Among  the  polished 
implements  of  the  Neapolitan  provinces,  we  possess  several 
made  of  a  greenish  stone,  known  since  the  last  studies  of 
^I.  Damour  as  jadeite.  This  stone  has  not  hitherto  been 
found  in  Calabria,  in  the  Apennines,  nor  in  the  Alps,  while 
on  the  other  hand  it  abounds  in  Central  Asia,  and  could 
therefore  only  make  its  way  into  Italy  by  means  of  a  pre- 
historic trade  existing  between  Europe  and  Asia.'  But 
if  nephritus  is  of  Eastern  origin  and  indicates  a  continued 
trade  with  the  East,  why  did  not  those  who  brought  it 
into  Europe  import  also  bronze  and  iron,  then  in  almost 
daily  use  among  them?  Chemistry,  consulted  in  its 
turn,  furnishes  also  its  contingent  of  proofs.  After  sub- 
jecting the  axes  found  at  Concise,  Meilen,  and  Mooseedorf 
to  a  series  of  analyses,  and  comparing  the  results  with 
those  obtained  by  jM.  Scherer  from  a  study  of  the  true 
Oriental  jade,  ^I.  de  Fellenburg  adopts  the  opinion  of  jM. 
Desbr,  and  says  that  the  hypothesis  of  the  Eastern  origin 
of  the  Swiss  stone  appears  to  him  to  be  nearest  the  truth. 
But  this  solution,  as  the  author  of  it  owns  himself,  remains 
a  pure  hypothesis,  since  direct  and  conclusive  proofs  are 
wanting. 

It  is  impossible  to  come  to  a  decision  among  these 

'   Com])tcs-Tcndus  de  I'Inditut,  vol.  Ixi.,  p.  337. 


286  PRIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

conflicting  and  even  completely  contradictory  opinions. 
M.  de  Mortillet's  first  view  appears  to  me  to  be  the  most 
plausible  one.  But  he  now  owns  himself,  in  spite  of  his 
former  contrary  assertions,  whose  value  he  thereby  singu- 
larly diminishes,  that  no  veins  of  jade  which  might  have 
served  to  make  the  axes  in  question  have  hitherto  been 
found  in  Europe.  Satisfactory  proofs  of  the  identity  of 
the  Oriental  jade  with  that  of  the  axes  found  in  Europe, 
and  of  the  absence  of  this  stone  in  this  continent,  can 
alone  settle  the  question.  We  should  still,  however,  have 
to  dispose  of  the  difficulty  of  accounting  for  such  extended 
commercial  relations  at  a  time  of  necessarily  elementary 
navigation.  The  same  difficulty  does  not  exist  with  re- 
gard to  the  dissemination  of  the  various  kinds  of  shells 
used  for  adorning  garments  and  for  personal  ornament, 
which  are  found  in  the  caves,  tombs,  and  dolmens.  The 
shells  bear  witness  to  a  trade  far  less  extensive,  and  there- 
fore possible  among  the  primitive  European  populations. 
Thus,  Gyprea  pyrum  and  G.  luridct^  found  at  Laugerie 
Basse,  indicate  the  existence  of  a  trade  by  barter  between 
the  inhabitants  of  the  banks  of  the  Vezere  and  those  of 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  in  the  same  way  that  the 
Littorina  liitorea,  picked  up  at  Cro-Magnon,  and  the  shells 
of  the  faluns  of  Touraine,  found  in  other  caves,  are  proofs 
of  commercial  relations  with  the  dwellers  on  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic. 

Lastly,  the  flints  of  Grand  Pressigny,  found  in  Belgium, 
and  the  articles  of  green  obsidian,  collected  in  the  valley 
of  Vibrata  by  Nicolucci,  lead  us  to  conclude  that  there  was 
a  trade  between  France  and  the  Low  Countries,  between 
Italy  and  Bohemia.  But  those  who  attribute  extended 
commercial  relations  to  the  tribes  of  the  stone  age  found 
their  belief  on  mere  conjecture  contradicted  by  all  the 
facts. 


287 


CHAPTER   V. 
THE  FIXE  ARTS. 

I.  THE  ARTS  OF  DESIGN  IN  THE  CAVES. 

In  tlieir  excellent  work  upon  the  relics  of  Aquitaine 
(' ReliquiDe  AquitaniccB '),  profane  relics  indeed,  but  per- 
fectly authentic,  MM.  Lartet  and  Christy  have  described 
to  us  the  carved  or  engraved  articles  which  they  collected 
from  the  bone  caves  of  Perigord.^ 

Grlancing  at  the  illustrations  contained  in  the  work, 
and  recalling  to  mind  the  originals  collected  together  in 
the  glass  cases  of  the  Exhibition  of  1867,  and  those  which 
were  exposed  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Trocadero  in 
1878,  the  observer  feels  no  small  surprise  at  the  compara- 
tive degree  of  perfection  reached  by  the  arts  of  design 
among  a  still  savage  people,  living  in  caves  and  ignorant 
of  the  use  of  metals.  We  will  look  at  some  of  these 
articles,  of  very  doubtful  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar, 
priceless  to  the  man  of  science  or  of  taste,  and,  above  all, 
to  the  true  artist. ^ 

Here  is  first  a  slab  of  fossil  ivory  found  in  the  cave  of 
J.a  Madelaine  by  MM.  Lairtet  and  Christy ;  upon  it  (fig. 
128)  the  antediluvian  artist  has  engraved  a  picture  of  the 
mammoth  {^Elephas  -prirtiigenius)^  easily  to  be  recognised 
by  its  wide  protruding  forehead,  its  small  shaggy  ears,  its 

'  It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten  that  the  first  attempts  at 
carving  and  engraving  in  bone  were  found  in  the  caves  of  Aurignac, 
Savign6,  and  Massat. 

-  According  to  M.  G.  de  Mortillet,  a  lover  of  antiquities  offered  in 
ISfitl  to  buy  for  a  million  of  francs  (40.000/.)  the  contents  of  the  case 
containintr  the  Hfty-one  specimens  relating  to  the  history  of  art  in  the 
reindeer  age. 


288 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


o 


ANTEDILUVIAN   ART.  289 

long  tusks  witli  an  upward  curve;  hy  tlie  long  liairs 
which  cover  its  head  and  body,  and,  lastly  by  the  heavy 
brown  mane  along  its  neck  and  back,  and  which  seems  to 
have  resembled  that  of  the  bison.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  engraver  had  seen  the  animal  whose  image 
he  reproduced.  His  representation  is  even  more  accurate 
than  that  drawn  after  nature  by  a  modern  artist,  a  mere 
trader,  certainly,  of  the  elephant  found  in  1806,  with  its 
skin,  flesh,  and  bones  near  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  on  the 
Frozen  Ocean.  After  comparing  the  two  drawings  repro- 
duced together  in  the  '  Bulletin  of  the  Imperial  Academy 
of  St.  Petersburg,'  and  after  reading  the  accurate  criticism 
on  the  latter  by  Professor  Brandt,  we  are  easily  convinced 
of  the  superiority  of  the  artist  of  the  stone  age  over  the 
contemporary  Russian  trader,  at  least  as  far  as  accuracy 
of  morphological  detail  is  concerned.' 

To  this  portrait  of  the  mammoth,  produced  by  the 
graving  tool  of  a  reindeer  hunter,  we  must  add  a  second 
to  which,  found  among  his  father's  collection,  jNI.  Louis 
Lartet  has  lately  drawn  attention.  The  exact  spot  from 
which  this  curious  specimen  was  taken  is  unknown,  but 
all  evidence  tends  to  show  that  it  came  from  Perigord. 
It  represents  the  Elephas  primigenius,  engraved  with  a 
flint  style  by  an  artist  who  seems  to  have  been  impeded 
in  his  work  by  the  movements  of  the  animal  before  him. 
This  appears  to  be  the  explanation  of  the  several  doubtful 

'  In  a  series  of  papers  published  in  German  by  the  Imperial  Academy 
of  St.  Petersburg,  vol.  x.  18G6,  Professor  Brandt  has  made  a  complete 
and  instructive  study  of  the  mammoth,  and  gives  a  picture  of  it  (p.  1 1.5), 
which  he  honestly  owns  is  somewhat  idealised.  The  tail  in  the  drawing 
is  too  long,  the  mane  does  not  extend  tar  enough  a'ong  the  back,  and 
the  hairs  are  not  sufficiently  long,  since  they  reall)'  hung  as  low  as  the 
knees  of  the  animal;  lastly,  this  mane  was  not  black  as  in  the  picture, 
but  reddish-brown.  The  hair  upon  the  head  was  soft  to  the  touch, 
reddish-brown  also,  and  six  feet  in  length.  Besides  these  long  outer 
hairs  the  mammoth  was  provided  with  a  thick,  curly  woollen  fleece. 
All  these  corrections  made  by  Brandt  were  suggested  to  him  by  the 
documents  he  collected  relating  to  the  maamioth  preserved  at  ^Moscow, 
(ir  to  the  remains  of  the  specimen  found  in  IST)-!,  not  near  the  bay  of 
Tas  as  was  at  first  announced,  but  in  the  neighbourhood  of  tlie  bay  of 
J<  nissei.  Brandt  also  confidently  drew  information  fiom  the  drawing 
of  the  unknown  artist  of  the  Dordogne. 


290 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


lines  made  by  the  draughtsman  before  he  clearly  decided 
the  outlines  of  his  first  drawing.  This  he  soon  abandoned, 
and  traced  two  drawings,  fairly  accurate  this  time,  of  the 
colossal  beast  whose  trunk  is  lowered  towards  the  earth  in 
the  one,  curved  inwards  towards  the  body  in  the  other. 
Both  are  engraved  upon  the  two  surfaces  of  a  piece  of  bone, 
polished  on  both  sides,  and  they  represent  almost  the  en- 
tire profile  outline  of  the  animal.^ 

Another  passably-executed   drawing   probably  repre- 
sents the  glutton,  a  migrated  animal,  whose  presence  in 


Fig.  129.  Fight  between  two  reindeer,  engraved  upon  a 
schistose  rock. 


the  caves  of  Perigord  is  a  fact  worthy  of  not<^.  We  come 
next  to  a  schistose  rock  on  which  the  draughtsman  has 
represented  a  fight  between  two  reindeer  bucks  (fig.  129). 
The  one  raises  his  head  proudly  to  solicit  the  favour  of  the 
female  as  the  prize  of  the  victory  which  he  has  just  won. 
'  This  complicated  composition,'  says  M.  G.  de  INIortillet, 
'  rendered  with  a  true  feeling  of  the  situation,  is  never- 

>  See  in  the  Mafh-ianx  of  1874  a  ri'^te  by  M.  Louis  Lartet,  entitled 
Graviires  iuedites  de  Vdge  du  renne  jmraissant  repre&enter  le  mavimoiith  tt 
Ic  ghmton. 


DRAWINGS   OF  ANIMALS.  291 

theless  executed  with  extreme  naivete.  Each  animal  is 
drawn  as  though  the  others  did  not  exist.  Thus  the  fore 
legs  of  the  conquered  deer,  which  should  be  properly 
hidden  by  the  body  of  the  female,  are  distinctly  repre- 
sented notwithstanding.'  The  reindeer  is  the  animal  most 
frequently  drawn  or  carved  on  the  weapons  or  ornaments 
of  the  hunters  of  Perigord.  The  horse,  in  repose  or  gal- 
loping, is  also  often  represented  ;  but  the  picture  is  not 
always  a  success.  The  aurochs,  the  wild  goat,  the  chamois, 
the  stag,  the  ox,  the  fox,  the  hippopotamus,  and  the  rhi- 
noceros occur  also  on  several  sculptured  bones.  The  saif/a 
antelope,  now  confined  to  Tartary  and  the  Ural  Mountains, 
is  likewise  occasionally  represented. 

The  Pyrenean  caves  also  bring  their  contingent  of 
materials  for  the  history  of  primitive  art ;  that  of  Bruni- 
quel,  whose  inestimable  riches  now  no  longer  belong  to 
France,  furnished  M.  Brun,  the  zealous  director  of  the 
Natural  History  Museum  of  Montauban,  with  a  piece  of 
reindeer  horn  fashioned  into  the  form  of  a  wand  of  office. 
The  hole  for  suspending  it  is  pierced  in  part  of  the 
circumference.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  purpose 
for  which  this  implement  was  intended,  the  figure  of  an 
animal  is  represented  upon  it;  but  unfortimately  the 
drawing,  inferior  in  execution  to  those  of  Perigord,  is  not 
sufficiently  good  to  enable  us  to  be  certain  what  mammal 
it  is  intended  to  represent.  We  may  also  mention  the 
drawing  of  a  cave-bear,  easily  recognised  by  its  protruding 
forehead,  which  Dr.  Garrigou  observed  upon  a  pebble 
which  he  foimd  in  the  lower  cave  of  ]Massat  ('  Bulletin  of 
the  Geological  Society  of  France,  1867,'  p.  143). 

This  drawing,  engraved  in  outline  like  that  of  the 
mammoth  of  the  Madelaine,  represents  an  animal  of  a 
long  extinct  species.  The  artist  of  Ariege,  who  drew  this 
accurate  portrait,  therefore  saw  the  living  animal;  he  was 
contemporary  with  it,  as  the  artist  of  Perigord  was  with 
the  mammoth  whose  picture  he  has  left  as. 

Lastly,  ^1.  Ed.  Lartet  observed  the  head  of  the  modern 
Pyrenean  bear  very  accurately  drawn  upon  the  extremity 
of  a  stag's  antler,  broken  across  at  the  joint  where  a  hole 


292 


PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


had  been  pierced  in  it.     Firm  hatched  lines  indicate  the 
shadows;    a  distinct  step   in    advance  of  the  preceding 

figures,   which    were 
merely  outlined. 

The  cave  of  Du- 
ruthy,  first  inhabited 
in  the  reindeer  age, 
and  during  its  artistic 
period,  was  used  as  a 
place  of  burial  at  a 
time  very  near  the 
neolithic  age.  More 
than  thirty  skeletons 
have  been  discovered 
in  the  upper  and  dis- 
turbed part  of  the 
cave.  Beneath  the 
hearth  which  lies  be- 
low these  graves,  a 
human  skull  and 
bones  were  found  in 
company  with  carved 
and  engraved  teeth 
of  the  lion  and  bear. 
One  of  the  teeth 
bears  on  one  side  the 
image  of  a  fish,  and 
on  the  other,  orna- 
mental lines  and  a 
barbed  arrow. 

Here  we  again 
meet  w^ith  the  skill, 
the  methods,  and 
even  the  details  of 
ornament  of  the  pri- 
mitive artists  of  Perigord.  The  engravings,  executed  by 
Basque  or  Bearnese  artists,  nevertheless  bear  their  distinc- 
tive marks,  and  the  barbed  arrows  serve  them  for  a  sig- 
nature.    Instead  of  being  drawn  upon  reindeer  bones,  as 


EARLY   ENGTvAVINGS.  293 

at  Aiirignac,  the  figures  arc^  cut  upon  bears'  t(>eth.  PJarbecl 
arrows,  syuinietrk-ally  disposed,  and  furnished  with  a 
varying  number  of  liarbs,  which  constitute  their  principal 
ornament,  have  not,  to  my  knowledge,  hitherto  been 
observed  upon  the  figured  articles  of  Perigord  and  the 
Pyrenees.^ 

The  artists  who  engraved  these  drawings  were  bear 
hunters,  as  at  Aurignac,  and  not  reindeer  hunters.  The 
seal  engraved  upon  a  bear's  tooth  seems  to  show  that  one 
of  these  artists,  before  settling  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Gave,  had  dwelt  upon  or  had  visited  the  sea-coast,  for  he 
had  certainly  seen  seals. 

Sculpture  itself  has  a  very  remote  origin  ;  it  was  born 
along  with  the  arts  of  design  proper,  in  the  age  of  carved 
flint  instruments ;  for  to  fashion  rude  matter  into  an  in- 
strument of  daily  use  is  as  truly  sculpture  as  the  carving 
of  a  priceless  work  of  art. 

Switzerland,  as  well  as  France,  can  boast  of  antedi- 
luvian artists,  some  of  whom  give  proofs  of  great  skill. 
Such,  for  example,  was  the  man  who  drew  with  a  flint 
style  upon  a  piece  of  reindeer  horn  the  picture  of  a  rein- 
deer grazing,  which  was  certainly  under  his  eyes  (fig.  130). 
M.  Hain  has  justly  called  attention  to  the  accuracy  and 
even  the  boldness  of  this  prehistoric  drawing.  It  is 
evident,  he  says,  that  this  was  not  the  artist's  first  attempt, 
and  his  work  will  bear  comparison  with  that  of  his  rivals 
of  Languedoc  and  Perigord.  Professor  Hain,  however,  is 
of  opinion  that  the  head  of  the  animal  is  too  large  and 
the  ears  too  small.  He  is  inclined  to  think  that  these 
two  peculiarities  are  due  to  the  poverty  of  the  pasturage 
in  the  districts  inhabited  by  the  animal,  and,  indeed,  the 
theory  of  the  learned  professor  of  Zurich  is  further  con- 
firmed by  the  hollow  belly  of  the  poor  brute,  which  shows 
that  the  cravings  of  its  appetite  were  not  always  satis- 
fied, &c. 

This  remarkable  specimen  found  in  the  cave  of  Tliayn- 

'  Louis  Lartet  and  Chat' lain  Dupare,  Une  acpidture  dm  a/irif//s 
troglodiites  dcs  Pyrf'uccs,  superjwsi'e  a  vii  foyei'  contcnaut  dc.^  di'hris 
huinuins  assucies  a  dcs  dents  sciiljjtiis  do  lion  it  d\>urs.     Paris,  1864. 


294  PEIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

gen, near  Schaffhausen,  proves  two  facts;  first,  the  certainty 
of  the  long-disputed  existence  of  the  reindeer  in  Switzer- 
land in  prehistoric  times  ;  secondly,  the  flourishing  con- 
dition of  the  arts  of  design  in  the  same  country  and  at 
the  same  epoch.  Besides  the  representation  of  the  rein- 
deer found  in  the  cave  of  Kesslerloch,  a  number  of  not  less 
successful  drawings  and  carvings  were  likewise  discovered 
there,  proving  that  these  Swiss  artists  were  possessed  of  a 
talent  in  no  way  inferior  to  that  of  the  reindeer  hunters 
of  Perigord  and  the  Pyrenees.  Among  the  carvings  we 
will  only  cite  a  head  of  a  horse,  and  a  head  of  the  ovibos 
(fig.  1?1),  impossible  to  be  mistaken,  and  among  the  en- 
gravings on  bone,  the  horse  (fig.  132),  the  pig,  the  bear, 
and  the  fox,  whose   form  and  attitudes  are  given  with  a 


Fig.  131,  Head  of  Ovibos  moschatus  from  the  cave  of  Thayxgen. 

fidelity  which  leaves  little  to  be  desired.^  Yet  the  in- 
habitants of  the  cave  of  Kesslerloch  lived  at  a  far  earlier 
period  than  that  in  w4iich  the  lake  cities  were  built,  and 
no  trace  of  pottery  or  of  tissues  have  been  found  among 
them.  Domestic  animals,  including  the  dog,  are  also 
entirely  absent. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  bone  caves  of  England 
are  completely  destitute  of  any  specimens  of  drawing  or 
carving,  although  fish-hooks,  pins,  and  even  needles  skil- 
fully wrought  in  bone  have  been  found  in  several  of  those 
of  the  reindeer  age.  The  same  artistic  inferiority  exists 
among  the  Belgian  troglodytes,  without  even  excepting 
those  of  the  cave  of  Chaleux,  emphatically  styled  a  little 

'  See  in  the  Mathnmix,  vol.xi.  1876,  p.  102,  and  the  following  figures, 
40,  43,  53,  54,  55,  56,  57,  and  58,  of  which  we  here  reproduce  the  most 
important. 


SPECIMENS  OF  EARLY  CARVING. 


29,5 


quaternary  Pompeii.  It  is  to  tliem,  however,  that  we 
owe  one  of  the  most  ancient  specimens  of  the  phistic  art. 
This  is  a  small  wooden  figure,^  very  rudely  carved,  a  sort 


>-w>?^-  ■■-■■■ 

Fig.  132.  iluUsE  engi:avi;d  in  oitlim. 
(Wand  of  office.) 


xM)j;i:r.  horn. 


of  rough  sketch,  which  denotes  the  infimcy  of  art,  and 

'  A  drawing  engraved  upon  reindeer  horn,  but  hard  to  decipher, 
was  fouud  with  this  sptcimen  at  Pont-^-Lesse. 


296 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


which  dates  from  its  very  earliest  dawn,  since  the  stratum 
where  it  was  fomid  is  one  of  the  upper  layers  of  the 
mammotlr.^ 

I  am  only  acquainted  with  one  specimen  of  Scandina- 
vian art  in  prehistoric  time,  a  drawing  representing  a  doe, 
engraved  with  a  flint  style  upon  a  carved  piece  of  stag's 
horn.^ 

It  is  yet  an  open  question  whether  the  strange  carvings 
of  ships  with  their  crews,  which  are  to  be  seen  on  the 
rocks  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  should  be  attributed  to  the 
neolithic  period  or  to  the  age  of  bronze.  M.  Gr.  Brunius, 
who  has  given  special  attention  to  this  subject,  is  of  the 
former  opinion,  while  others,  on  the  other  hand,  deny 
them  any  antiquity. 


¥iG.  133.  Figure  of  a  nakkd  man  betavef.n  two  horses'  heads. 
(After  Ed.  Lartet  and  Chrit^ty.) 


It  is  a  singular  fact  that  while  these  prehistoric  artists 
render  with  delightful  simplicity,  and  at  the  same  time 
with  perfect  truth,  the  natural  scenes  they  had  before  their 
eyes,  such  as  a  reindeer  tight  or  the  chase  of  the  aurochs ; 
while  they  represented  in  outline,  with  a  skill  unattainable 
by  those  of  us  who  have  not  learnt  to  draw,  the  figure  of 
the  animals  which  lived  at  that  remote  epoch,  they  are 
embarrassed,  constrained,  and  unskilful  in  their  efforts  to 
reproduce  the  human  form.  These  primitive  drawings 
resemble  those  of  the  pretended  '  Book  of  the  Savages,' 
which  really  are  the  work  of  clever  scholars,  destined 
perhaps  to  become  great  masters  at  some  future  time. 

•  Tlie  fossil  fauna  of  tins  stratum  belongs  to  the  transition  period 
bclwcen  th(3  acjt^s  of  ilie  manunotli  and  roirdeer. 

2  Nilsson's  Primitive  InkahitanU  of  Scandinavia,  plate  xv.  figs.  258 
and  259. 


EARLY    DRAWINGS   OF  MAN.  297 

MM.  Ell.  liurtet  and  Christy  discovered  at  tlie  cave 
of  La  JNIadelaine,  upon  a  wand  of  office,  the  first  repre- 
sentation of  the  human  form,  drawn  in  outline  between 
two  horses'  heads,  and  a  fish  apparently  nearly  allied  to 
the  eels  (fig.  133).  But  in  this  sketch  the  face  is  with- 
out expression,  and  the  limbs,  although  fairly  distinct, 
n^main  unfinished,  the  artist  having  omitted  the  feet  and 
hands.  An  arm  and  hand,  perhaps  tattooed,  at  any  rate 
marked  with,  oblique  zigzag  lines  and  possessed  only  of 
four  fingers,  the  thumb  being  omitted,  is  traced  upon 
both  sides  of  a  spear-head  found  in  the  same  place  as  the 
above-mentioned  drawing  ('  Reliquiae  Aquitanicse,'  pi.  ii. 
fig.  86,  pi.  xviii.  figs.  1  and  10).  It  was  also  in  Laugerie 
Basse  that  M.  Elie  Massenat  discovered  two  antedi- 
luvian engravings,  the  one  representing  the  head  of  an 
elephant,  the  other  an  aurochs  hunt,  in  which  the  animnl 
is  represented  fleeing  before  a  man  who  appears  to  be 
throwing  darts.  According  to  ]M.  Massenat,  '  it  is  the 
finest  and  most  perfect  drawing  of  the  human  form  of  the 
epoch  of  the  caves  that  has  been  hitherto  discovered,' 
without  even  admitting  an  exception  in  favour  of  the 
fisherman  armed  with  the  barbed  harpoon,  with  which 
^I.  Broca  made  us  acquainted  in  his  remarkable  lecture 
at  Bordeaux  in  1872. 

We  give  M.  ^lassenat's  description  of  this  speci- 
men : — 

'  The  figure  is  nude.  .  .  .  The  form  of  the  head  is 
brachycephalous ;  the  hair  stiff  and  growing  in  tufts  on 
the  top  of  the  head  ;  the  chin  is  furnished  with  a  very 
apparent  beard  ;  the  neck  rather  long  ;  the  upper  arm 
comparatively  short ;  the  hands  badly  drawn ;  the  right 
arm  thrown  backwards  seems  to  be  about  to  lance  the 
javelin  with  which  it  is  armed,  while  the  left  is  stretched 
forward  as  if  to  seize  the  aurochs  by  the  tail.  The  chest 
is  protruding ;  the  belly  well  drawn ;  the  sexual  parts 
large  and  strongly  developed  ;  the  vertebral  column  rather 
long  and  resembling  in  its  arched  form  that  of  the  ape 
when  walking  upright ;  the  thighs  are  well  drawn,  but 
the  femur  is  very  short ;  the  lower  part  of  the  leg  and  the 


298 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


foot  are  regular  and  well  formed;  the  head  is  slightly 
thrown  backwards,  and  the  face  has  a  joyful  expression 
which  attracts  notice  at  the  first  glance.'  ('Materiaux,' 
1869,  p.  333). 

Lastly,  at  Laugerie  Basse  the  Abbe  Landesque  found 


Fig.  134.  Fragment  of  a  scapitt.a,  found  at  Laugerie  Basse,  on  which 
IS  enguaved  the  figure  of  a  pregnant  woman. 


the  fragment  of  a  scapula  on  which  the  artist  had  engraved 
in  outline  the  body  of  a  woman  apparently  in  an  advanced 
stage  of  pregnancy  (fig.  134).  This  woman  wears  bracelets, 
and  her  throat  is  adorned  with  a  necklace  of  large  beads. 
On  the  same  piece  of  bone  may  be  seen  the  two  hind  legs  of 


RUDE  AET   SPECIMENS.  299 

a  reindeer,  of  which  the  rest  of  the  body  has  disappeared 
with  the  piece  broken  off. 

The  reader  may  have  seen  in  the  glass  cases  of  the 
gallery  devoted  to  anthropology  in  the  Exhibition  some 
rude  drawings  found  by  M.  Kiviere  on  the  rocks  of  the 
Val  d'Enfer,  not  far  from  the  Lake  of  Wonders.  These 
drawings  are  said  to  bear  a  close  resemblance  to  those 
which  the  Guanchos,  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the 
Canary  Isles,  engraved  upon  the  rocks  there  before  the 
formation  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  when  Africa  was 
stili  united  to  Spain  and  to  the  Canary  Isles,  from  which 
it  is  not  now  far  distant.  At  this  same  epoch,  it  is 
further  said,  the  Guanchos  may  have  occupied,  indeed 
occupied  in  point  of  fact,  the  south-west  of  Europe,  as 
their  skulls  have  precisely  the  same  characteristics  as 
those  of  Cro-Magnon,  and  as  a  close  resemblance  exists 
between  their  ornaments  and  those  found  at  the  last- 
named  spot ;  hence  it  is  supposed  that  the  drawings  ot 
the  Val  d'Enfer  were  engraved  by  the  Guanchos.  These 
conclusions  appear  to  me  to  be  somewhat  rashly  drawn, 
especially  if,  as  some  archseologists  now  suspect,  the  skulls 
of  Cro-Magnon  are  more  recent  than  it  was  originally 
believed.  This  would  completely  dispose  of  their  pre- 
tended identity  with  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the 
Canaries. 

More  authentic  and  far  more  perfect  drawings  also 
figure  in  the  collections  of  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  These  drawings,  representing  both  the  men  and 
animals  of  the  country,  are,  at  least  as  far  as  the  modelling 
and  attitude  of  the  human  form  is  concerned,  far  superior 
to  those  of  the  caves  of  Perigord,  which  leads  us  to  think 
that  they  are  of  more  recent  date.  But  they  are  notw^ith- 
standing  very  remarkable,  inasmuch  as  they  are  the 
products  of  the  pictorial  art  of  the  Bosjesmen,  one  of  the 
lowest  of  human  races. 

We  have  seen  that  the  human  form,  in  its  primitive 
nudity,  is  represented  in  outline  on  the  reindeer  bones 
discovered  in  the  caves  of  Perigord,  by  the  artist  who 
lived  in  this  district  at  a  period  to  which  it  is  impossible 


300  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

to  assign  a  date,  but  which  was  certainly  very  remote. 
We  are  now  to  see  the  same  human  form  represented  in 
relief  by  these  same  unknown  artists,  in  whom  we  ought 
perhaps  to  recognise  our  first'  ancestors. 

Antediluvian  statuary  presents,  in  fact,  to  our  somewhat 
scandalised  vision  a  species  of  immodest  Venus,  found  in 
Laugerie  Basse  by  M.  de  Vibraye.  '  This,'  says  M.  de 
Mortillet,  '  is  a  tall,  thin  female  body,  of  which  the  repro- 
ductive members  are  strongly  developed  and  the  buttocks 
extremely  prominent.  The  head  and  legs  are  wanting, 
having  been  long  since  broken  off.  The  arms  never 
existed.'  The  Abbe  Landesque  also  discovered  in  Laugerie 
Basse  a  small  figure,  rudely  carved  in  reindeer  horn,  in 
which,  with  the  help  of  a  little  imagination,  may  be  dis- 
tinguished a  naked  human  being,  crouching  in  a  suppliant 
position  ('Materiaux,  1874,'  p.  276). 

Among  other  precious  treasures,  Laugerie  Basse  has 
also  furnished  jNI.  de  Vibraye  with  a  mammoth's  head 
skilfully  carved  upon  a  wand  of  office,  which  is  unfortu- 
nately broken,  and  of  which  the  lost  half  probably  repre- 
sented the  body  of  the  animal.  The  mammoth  has  also 
been  represented  in  relief,  but  very  roughly,  on  a  fragment 
of  reindeer  horn  found  at  Montastruc  by  M.  Peccadeau  de 
L'Isle,  to  whom  we  are  also  indebted  for  the  discovery  of 
the  handles  of  two  daggers,  on  which  the  artist  had  figured 
the  reindeer  from  the  horn  of  which  these  remarkable 
specimens  were  carved.  In  their  '  Keliquioe  Aquitanicse,' 
MM.  Ed.  Lartet  and  Christy  have  likewise  given  an  illus- 
tration of  the  carved  handle  of  a  dagger,  which  represents 
a  reindeer  with  its  muzzle  raised  so  that  the  antlers  lie 
along  the  shoulders,  while  the  fore  feet,  bent  back  under 
the  belly,  form  the  handle.  The  hind  legs  stretched  out 
towards  the  blade  connect  it  with  the  handle  of  the  dagger 
(fig.  135).  Although  this  carving  is  merely  indicated,  it 
is  notwithstanding  the  work  of  an  artist,  proved  worthy 
of  the  name  by  the  skill  he  has  shown  in  adapting  the 
position  of  the  animal  to  the  necessities  of  his  plan  with- 
out rendering  it  forced. 

Man  and    mammalia   have    furnished  the  carvers  or 


OBJECTS  DEAWN    OR   CARVED. 


301 


draughtsmen  of  the  reindeer  age  with  their  most  numerous 
subjects  of  composition.  Yet  they  have  sometimes  repre- 
sented birds  (the  blackcock,  the  swan,  and  the  goose)  ; 
reptih^s  (snakes);  batrachians  (tadpoles  of  frogs);  and 
fish  (eel,  carp,  barbel,  and  trout).  It  seems  that,  owing  to 
their  usually  small  size,  the  invertebrate  animals  did  not 
attract  the  attention  of  the  troglodyte  artists,  for  no  repre-- 
sentation,  either  drawn  or  carved,  has  hitherto  been  found 
of  any  one  of  them. 

Plants  even,  in  spite  of  the  size  and  stately  appearance 
of  some  of  them,  and  the  grace  and  beauty  of  the  foliage 
and  flowers  of  others,  are  likewise  very  rarely  represented 
in  drawing,  never,  as  far  I  know,  in  sculpture.  Three 
flowers  only  were  shown  in  the  Exhibition  of  1867.     A 


Fig.  135.  Carved  iieindeek-horx  handle.  (After  Ed.  Lartet  and  Christy.) 

frond  of  fern  engraved  upon  a  staff  of  office,  found  in  the 
station  of  Mont  Sal  eve  by  ]\IM.  Favre  and  Thioly,  has  been 
lately  added  to  the  number.  Lastly,  ]M.  Cazalis  de  Fon- 
douce  saw  at  La  Salpetriere,  in  the  department  of  Gard, 
the  drawing  of  a  pine  {Abies  excelsior  of  Linnoeus)  scratched 
with  a  flint  style  upon  an  antler  of  Cervus  tarandus.  We 
may  mention,  by  the  way,  that  this  fact,  in  conjunction 
with  others  observed  by  the  same  author,  proves  that  man 
hunted  the  reindeer  in  liOwer  Languedoc,  on  the  borders 
of  Provence,  and  only  a  few  leagues  from  the  ^lediter- 
ranean. 

It  was  formerly  believed  that  the  arts  of  design  com- 
pletely disappeared  in  France  during  the  neolithic  period. 
This  was  a  mistake.     In  the  caves  which  he  discovered  in 
Champagne,  and  which  belong  to  this  period,  ^I.  de  Baye 
14 


302  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

found  traces  of  sculpture;  but,  far  from  showing  any 
progress,  the  art  appears  to  be  decaying.  It  is  worthy  of 
mention,  nevertheless,  that  a  rudely-carved  figure  may  be 
seen  in  one  of  the  artificial  caves  hollowed  out  of  the 
chalk  with  an  axe  of  polished  flint.  The  nose  is  of  exag- 
gerated size,  the  eyes  are  indicated  by  two  holes  filled 
with  a  black  substance,  the  face  resembles  a  bird.  A 
necklace  lies  upon  the  breast  of  the  figure,  and  the  locket 
which  hangs  from  the  middle  of  it  is  painted  yellow, 
probably  with  hydrated  iron  diluted  in  water.  The  breasts, 
w^hich  are  very  prominent,  have  been  modelled  in  an  un- 
natural position  by  the  sculptor  of  Champagne,  evidently 
little  versed  in  the  science  of  anatomy.  As  to  the  rest  of 
the  body,  neither  the  arms  nor  the  legs  are  distinctly 
modelled.  This  same  form,  which  is  repeated  upon  the 
walls  of  several  caves,  perhaps  represents  a  god  in  human 
form,  a  female  divinity,  as  M.  de  Baye  thinks.  If  this 
were  the  case,  it  would  furnish  a  hint  as  to  the  religious 
ideas,  even  as  to  the  mode  of  worship  of  these  ancient 
tribes  of  Champagne.  We  shall  recur  to  this  subject 
presently.^ 

In  spite  of  their  obvious  imperfections,  these  drawings 
and  carvings  of  our  primitive  ancestors  are,  notwithstand- 
ing, without  the  stiffness  of  those  of  the  Egyptians  of  the 
earlier  dynasties. 

The  race  to  which  the  artists  of  the  Vezere  belonged 
is  considered  by  MM.  Quatrefages  and  Hamy  to  be  a 
type  to  which  they  have  given  the  name  of  Cro-Magnon, 
and  they  regard  the  Guanchos  of  the  Canary  Isles,  and 
certain  Kabyles  of  the  Beni  Masser  and  of  the  Djurjura  as 
the  best  preserved  representatives  of  this  ancient  race, 
endowed  with  such  a  remarkable  gift  for  the  arts  of 
design.  In  France  they  regard  the  modern  Basques  of 
Zaraus  as  their  descendants,  as  also  the  Parisians  of  the 

'  We  are  involuntarily  struck  with  the  resemblance  between  the 
statuettes  of  the  Marne  with  the  image  of  Minerva  with  the  owl's  eyes 
(yXavKWTTis  'AOrfpr])  and  prominent  breasts,  represented  on  a  great  number 
of  the  earthenware  vessels  taken  by  Dr.  Schliemann  from  the  ruins  of 
Troy. 


MUSIC  AND  PAINTINa.  303 

fifth  century,  and  even  certain  Parisian  women  of  modern 
times. 

II.     PAINTING   AND    MUSIC. 

There  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  men  of  the  reindeer 
age  cultivated  painting  to  tho  same  extent  as  drawing, 
properly  so  called.  They  were  nevertheless  acquainted 
with  certaiu  colouring  matters ;  it  appears  even  that  they 
painted  their  bodies  with  a  mixture  of  grease  and  red 
hjT?matite  or  oxide  of  manganese,  a  custom  practised  later 
by  the  Picts  of  Great  Britain,  and  in  modern  times  by  the 
savage  tribes  of  America,  by  whom  similar  colouring 
matters  are  frequently  employed  for  this  purpose. 

Haematite,  or  red  chalk,  reduced  to  powder  and  per- 
fectly preserved  in  a  cardiuin  shell,  was  discovered  at 
Bruniquel,  by  ISI.  Brun,  director  of  the  Natural  History 
Museum  of  Montauban.  Lying  beside  this  colouring 
matter  was  a  bone  implement  which  may  have  been  used 
for  tattooing,  the  most  favourite  species  of  ornamentation 
among  modern  savage  tribes.  Pulverised  haematite  was 
also  found  at  ]\Iontastruc  by  M.  Peccadeau  de  L'Isle,  in 
Dordogne  by  MM.  Lartet  and  Christy,  in  Belgium  by 
M.  Ed.  Dupont.  Lastly,  M.  Cazalis  de  Fondouce  found  in 
a  cave  on  the  banks  of  the  Gardon,  that  of  the  Salpetriere, 
belonging  to  the  reindeer  age,  a  sea-shell  full  of  haematite. 
Close  to  the  shell  lay  the  mortar  which  had  been  used  to 
grind  the  colouring  matter  to  a  fine  powder,  and  to  mix 
it  with  grease,  so  as  to  make  a  pomatum  destined  to 
colour  the  body  red,  and  to  protect  the  skin  against 
atmospherical  influences  ('L'Homme  du  Gardon,' p.  44, 
Paris,  1872). 

We  hesitate  to  name  whistles  among  musical  instru- 
ments, because  of  their  piercing  and  usually  disagreeable 
sound.  But  because  of  this  very  shrillness  the  notes  of 
the  whistle  may  have  been  used  as  a  call  by  the  hunters. 

It  is  certain  that  in  the  caves  of  Perigord  and  else- 
where several  instruments  have  been  discovered  made 
from  the  phalanges  of  the  reindeer,  with  a  hole  pierced  in 
them,  which  are  true  whistles,  and  will  still  give  forth 
more  or  less  sound.    Moreover,  M.  Piette  has  lately  found, 


304  PRIMITR^   CIVILISATION. 

in  the  caves  of  the  Pyrenees,  tubes  made  of  the  bones  of 
birds,  which  once  he  thinks  formed  part  of  a  flute  like 
that  which  tradition  attributes  to  the  god  Pan,  which 
consisted  of  several  reeds  of  unequal  length,  bound  to- 
gether by  cords,  or  slips  of  wood  placed  cross-wise.  Other 
tubes,  like  those  of  the  Pyrenees  found  at  Laugerie  Basse 
by  the  Abbe  Landesque,  and  at  Eochebertier,  in  Charente, 
by  M.  Fermond,  seem  to  corroborate  M.  Piette's  theory. 
The  invention  of  compound  flutes,  if  these  really  merit 
the  name,  dates  therefore  from  the  reindeer  age. 

III.     POTTEKY. 

The  print  of  a  horse's  hoof  in  the  wet  earth,  a  piece  of 
clay  hardened  among  the  cinders  on  the  hearth,  or  merely 
dried  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  may  have  suggested  the  idea 
of  employing  earth  to  make  vessels  for  holding  water, 
fruits,  or  any  kind  of  provision.  This  idea,  however 
natural,  yet  appears  to  have  occurred  to  the  mind  of  our 
prehistoric  ancestors  at  a  comparatively  late  epoch.  Flint 
carving  had  long  been  practised ;  the  wooden  vessel  was 
p>robably  invented ;  the  horns  of  the  Bos  primigenius  or  of 
the  aurochs  were  doubtless  already  used  as  drinking  cups 
by  primitive  man,  when  first  he  thought  of  using  wet 
clay,  kneaded  by  his  hands,  to  create  a  new  manufacture. 
This  manufacture  became  one  of  the  most  useful,  and 
developed  into  an  art  whose  productions,  perfected  and 
beautified  by  science,  furnishes  models  to  many  others, 
and  rival  in  beauty  of  form,  wealth  of  ornament,  and 
brilliancy  of  colour,  the  most  valued  works  of  sculpture, 
painting,  and  architecture. 

A  number  of  natural  objects  may  have  originally  taken 
the  place  of  pottery,  and  are  even  now  used  in  its  stead. 
Such  are  certain  vegetable  forms — cocoa-nuts,  the  spathes 
of  palm  trees,  the  stems  of  the  bamboo ;  such  are  also  the 
horns  and  hoofs  of  cattle,  the  skulls  of  man,  and  other 
animals.  The  modern  inhabitants  of  Madagascar  use  the 
eggs  of  the  AJpyornis  niaximius  for  saucepans. 

According  to  Tylor,  the  wooden  vessel,  or  the  basket 
of  cane  or  osier,  -was  properly  speaking  the  first  foundation 


ORIGIN   OF  POTTERY.  305 

of  the  koramic' or  potter's  art.  Covered  eitlier  inside  or 
out  with  a  layer  of  clay,  for  the  better  protectioQ  of  the 
vessel  or  its  contents,  then  purposely  consumed,  or  burned 
by  accident,  the  destruction  of  the  wood  left  intact  the 
covering  of  clay.  From  this  process  to  that  of  making 
vases  of  clay  used  alone  and  hardened  by  fire,  there  is 
but  one  step :  the  step  was  made,  and  the  potter's  art  was 
born.  The  method  indicated  by  Tylor  appears  to  have 
been  employed  from  time  immemorial  by  the  savages  of 
America. 

Modellinof  in  clay,  according  to  M.  Alexandre  Brong- 
niart,  dates  from  the  very  earliest  times.  It  was  first 
applied  to  fruits,  which  in  decaying  left  intact  the  clay 
moulded  round  them.  The  modern  Fiji  Islanders  still 
mould  their  earthenware  vases  round  fruits  with  a  more 
or  less  firm  rind.  Undoubted  traces  of  this  process  are 
found  in  gourd-shaped  earthen  vases,  which  still  contain 
remains  of  the  rind  of  this  fruit,  and  which  are  common 
in  the  ancient  tumuli  of  the  Ohio  river.  These  same 
American  tombs  contain  also  fragments  of  pottery  bearing 
the  imprint  of  bags  of  coarse  tissue  or  plaited  bark,  in 
which  they  had  been  cast  or  moulded,  and  the  weft  of 
which  was  faithfully  reproduced  on  their  outer  surface.  A 
basket  destined  to  contain  liquids  was  even  found  in  a 
Peruvian  tomb,  and  which,  at  the  time  of  its  discovery, 
was  still  capable  of  being  employed  for  that  purpose. 
Lastly,  baskets  of  plaited  straw  are  used  by  the  modern 
Chinocks  to  contain  the  water  in  which  they  cook,  by 
means  of  red-hot  stones,  the  salmon  which  forms  their 
staple  food. 

Clay  naturally  attracted  attention  by  its  plasticity, 
by  the  ease  with  which  it  retains  the  forms  into  which 
it  is  moulded,  lending  itself  to  any  kind  of  ornament. 
Another    precious    property   is   the   power   of  becoming 

'  The  etymology  of  the  word  keramic  is  sufficiently  curious  to  deserve 
a  pasiing  mention.  The  Greek  word  Kepas,  whence  keramic,  originally 
meant  the  horns  of  animals  used  for  drinking-cups;  the  word  signifies 
not,  therefore,  the  substance  used  in  making  them,  but  the  originarshape 
and  nature  of  drinking- cups. 


306  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

almost  as  hard  as  stone,  especially  when  exposed  to  the 
action  of  fire,  in  spite  of  its  great  plasticity,  a  property  to 
which  we  owe  the  important  records  furnished  by  this 
substance  to  the  history  of  art  and  of  civilisation.  There- 
fore M.  Brongniart  does  not  exaggerate  when  he  says, 
'  Pottery,  as  it  became  more  abundant,  was  the  source 
of  benefits  in  times  of  obscurity,  similar  to  those  ren- 
dered by  printing  in  more  enlightened  ages.'  Consi- 
dered from  that  point  of  view  which  specially  concerns 
us  here,  pottery  is,  at  least  in  a  great  number  of  cases, 
'  the  geognostic  equivalent  of  human  rem.ains '  (de 
Christol),  provided  always  that  the  beds  in  which  the 
vessels  occur  are  accurately  known,  and  present  no  trace 
of  any  disturbance  more  recent  than  the  time  of  burial  of 
the  objects  in  question. 

Undoubted  traces  of  productions  of  the  keramic  art 
were  discovered  at  Cagliari,  in  Sicily,  in  a  post-pleiocene 
stratum  containing  remains  of  extinct  animals,  and  having 
evidently  formed  part  of  the  bottom  of  some  ancient  sea, 
although  now  situated  nearly  300  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  Mediterranean.  Homer  asserts  that  he  discovered  in 
the  sediment  of  the  Nile,  at  a  great  depth  below  the 
surface  of  the  soil,  some  earthenware  and  bricks,  to 
which  he  assigns  an  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen  centuries. 
M.  Eaynaud,  a  mining  engineer,  mentions  fragments  of 
pottery  found  in  company  with  river  shells  buried  in  a 
deposit  of  calcareous  sand,  which  covers  the  granite  hills 
of  the  Isle  of  Brehat,  separated  from  the  coast  of  Brittany, 
which  is  also  granite,  by  a  channel  rather  more  than 
2,000  yards  in  width.  Now  this  fluviatile  deposit  must 
clearly  have  been  formed  at  an  epoch  previous  to  the 
opening  of  the  channel  between  the  island  and  the  main- 
land, that  is,  at  an  epoch  when  man  had  already  betrayed 
his  existence  in  these  regions  by  the  products  of  keramic 
art.  Eude  pottery  also  occurs,  but  rarely,  in  the  earliest 
caves  ;  those  of  Nabrigas  (Lozere),  of  Aurignac  (Haute- 
Garonne),  of  I'Herm  (Ariege),-  of  Bize  (Herault),  of  Souvig- 
nargues  (Gard),  of  Kochebertier  (Charente),  of  Chiampo 
and  Luglio,  near  Vicenza. 


FRAGMENTS   OF  rOTTI'.KY.  307 

M.  Ed.  Dupoiit  has  collected  fragments  from  all  the 
Belgian  stations,  which  he  has  examined  with  the  greatest 
care.  M.  Konjou  discovered  rough-hewn  flints  and  some 
almost  shapeless  pottery  in  the  yellow  sediment  of  the 
Seine,  near  Choisy-le-Roi,  a  deposit  which  he  believes  to 
be  anterior  to  the  age  of  polished  stone  ('  Congress  of 
Bologna,'  1871,  p.  83).  Very  rude  earthenware  has  also 
been  found  in  the  cave  of  Hohefels,  near  Ulm,  with  a 
quantity  of  bones  of  the  reindeer,  bear,  and  mammoth. 
Lastly,  the  Abbe  Spano  considers  that  the  fragments  of 
pottery  which  he  found  in  the  neighboiu-hood  of  the 
most  ancient  Nuraghi,  belong  to  the  archseolithic  age. 
(See  p.  127.)  But  doubts  have  been  thrown  upon  the 
contemporaneity  of  some  of  these  keramic  productions 
with  the  bones  of  extinct  animals  in  the  midst  of  which 
they  were  discovered.^  Pottery  becomes  somewhat  less 
rare  in  the  reindeer  age ;  it  is  common  in  the  neolithic 
period. 

M.M.  Cartailhac  and  de  Fondouce  have  even  asserted 
that  all  the  pottery  found  in  the  caves  and  in  a  number 
of  dolmens  belongs  exclusively  to  the  age  of  polished 
stone.  They  make  no  exception  in  favour  of  the 
curious  fragments  found  in  the  cave  of  Nabrigas,  of 
whose  great  age  MM.  Ed.  Lartet  and  Christy  had  so 
little  doubt  that  the  latter  had  casts  made  of  them  for 
the  English  museums.-  M.  de  Quatrefages  agrees  with 
us   in    rejecting    the    opinion   of    MM.    Cartailhac   and 

*  Among  others  by  MM,  de  Mortillet  and  Cartailhac,  who  do  not 
believe  that  pottery  existed  in  the  palajolithic  age.  M.  Hamy  is 
a  partisan  of  the  contrary  opinion,  which  we  are  also  inclined  to 
share.  Lastly,  M.  Floucst  I'ound  in  the  camp  of  Chasse}',  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Saune-et-Loire,  a  fnigment  of  rude  pottery,  of  whicli  the  inner 
lining,  black  in  c  Jour  and  almost  friable,  contains  particles  of  silica 
which  serve  to  bind  it.  The  author  of  this  discovery  thinks  he  has 
reason  to  attribute  this  pottery  to  the  earliest  stone  age. 

2  A  specimen  of  this  casting  has  been  placed  in  the  Natural  History 
Museum  of  Toulouse.  The  original,  in  my  possession,  forms  the  bottom 
of  a  tlat-bottomed  vessel,  irregularly  circular,  evidently  liand-made,  as 
the  print  of  the  fingers  which  moulded  tlie  clay  and  ornamented  the 
outer  surfaces  with  deep  parallel  furrows,  is  clearly  distinf4uisljal)le  both 
outside  and  in.  This  fragment  was  found  in  an  otsiferous  sediment 
containing  a  quantity  of  bones  of  the  C'r^^us  i<jjdurus. 


308 


PRIMITIVE  CiyiLISATION", 


de  Fondouce,  especially  with  regard  to  the  prehistoric 
pottery  of  Belgium,  notably  that  of  the  trou  du  frontciL 
'  It  would,'  he  says,  '  be  placing  the  age  of  polished  stone 
far  too  early  to  attribute  it  to  an  epoch  when  the  chamois, 
the  wild  goat,  and  the  saiga  antelope  lived  in  Belgium 


Figs.  136,  137,  138,  ISit.  Pikcks  of  pottery  fottnd  in  the  bakkow  of 
West  Kenxet.     (After  Lubbock.) 

with  the  Norway  rat  and  the  ptarmigan.  This  is  perhaps 
a  subject  for  consideration  ;  but  the  presence  of  these 
species  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Dinant  is  to  us  a  proof 
that  we  are  still  in  the  fourth  epoch  '  (De  Quatrefages' 
'  L'Espece  Humaine,'  p.  253,  Paris,  1877). 


ORNAMENTATION    OF  POTTEKY.  309 

The  most  ancient  vessels,  nearly  always  reduced  to 
mere  fragments,  and  even  those  of  a  more  recent  epoch, 
are  made  of  coarse  clay  mixed  with  sand,  with  carlionate 
of  lime,  quartz,  or  mica,^  imperfectly  baked  with  fire  or 
sun-dried,  but  not  thrown  on  the  wheel,  an  invention  of 
comparatively  recent  date.  Yet  these  vases  are  often 
elegant  in  shape,  of  which  the  reader  may  readily  assure 
himself  by  glancing  at  the  vessels  discovered  more  or 
less  intact  in  certain  tumuli,  and  in  the  earliest  lake 
dwellings  of  Switzerland  and  Italy.  (See  above,  figs.  52 
and  53.) 

They  are  ornamented  in  the  simplest  and  most  uniform 
way,  with  designs  in  relief  or  depressions  made  with  the 
nail  or  the  top  of  the  finger,  with  pieces  of  wood,  pointed 
bones,  or  string  pressed  more  or  less  deeply  into  the  soft 
clay.  On  the  more  recent  vessels  these  are  in  the  form 
of  straight  or  zigzag  lines,  dots,  or  parallel  lines,  squares, 
triangles,  or  rarely  circles  (figs.  136,  137,  138,  139). 
These  combinations  recall  to  mind  the  figures  carved  or 
engraved  by  the  modern  Kabyles  on  the  blade  or  wooden 
sheath  of  their  yataghans.  Ornaments  of  twisted  clay 
applied  with  the  hand,  occasionally  handles,  and  some- 
times, near  the  brim,  knobs  pierced  with  holes  for  the 
passage  of  a  suspending  string,  never  a  spout ;  such  are 
the  distinguishing  features  of  the  pottery  of  prehistoric 
time. 

Neither  plants  nor  animals  are  ever  represented  on 
any  of  the  vessels  found  in  France,  to  whatever  epoch 
they  may  belong.^  This  absence  of  ornament  is  one  of 
the  characteristics  of  primitive  pottery.  Yet  from  the 
reindeer  age — that  is  to  say,  the  epoch  of  the  dawn  of 
keramic  art — the  arts  of  design  were  already  sufficiently 

'  MM.  G.  de  Mortillet  and  Ed.  Dupont  assert  that  the  pottery  of 
the  neolithic  age  only  contains  carbonate  of  lime  mixed  with  the  clay; 
while  in  those  of  the  archteolithic  age  sand,  mica,  and  carbonate  of  lime 
are  all  found.  I  do  not  know  that  large  pieces  of  mica  have  hitherto 
been  found  in  European  pottery,  as  in  American  earthenware  of  the 
epoch  of  the  mound  builders. 

*  The  stem  and  veins  of  a  leaf  are  figured  upon  a  vase  found  at 
Waugen,  in  Switzerland. 


310  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

developed ;  we  see  the  proof  in  the  drawings  and  carvings 
executed  on  bone,  ivory,  and  stone  by  the  artists  of  Lan- 
guedoc  and  Perigord.  This  presents  a  new  problem  to 
be  resolved  ;  unfortunately  all  the  elements  necessary  to 
its  solution  are  not  yet  forthcoming. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  instinct  of  imitation,  so 
little  developed  among  the  primitive  European  potters, 
is  on  the  contrary  very  strong  among  the  various  peoples 
of  the  New  World.  Their  earliest  vessels  are  a  more  or 
less  faithful  reproduction  of  the  form  of  the  fruits  (that 
of  the  gourd  is  of  most  common  occurrence),  and  of  the 
animals  of  the  country  (see  p.  165).  The  modern  pottery 
of  certain  American  tribes  has  retained  the  same  character 
in  spite  of  contact  with  Europeans. 

A  great  similarity  is  observed  in  the  pottery  of  the 
archseolithic  and  neolithic  ages.  This  likeness  is  sometimes 
so  great  as  to  occasion  a  real  difficulty  in  deciding  to  which 
epoch  any  given  vessel  should  be  attributed.  Hence  the 
numerous  errors  which  have  been  made  on  this  point, 
and  which  are  still  of  daily  occurrence.  It  cannot  be 
denied,  however,  that  vases  with  a  curved  bottom  are  more 
ancient  than  flat- bottomed  ones.  The  latter  mark  a  real 
progress  in  keramic  art.  Others,  still  more  recent,  termi- 
nate in  a  point,  and  require,  in  order  to  maintain  an 
upright  position,  a  clay  ring  or  support  which  is  fre- 
quently found  with  them.  But  this  conical  form  is  proper 
to  the  age  of  bronze,  and  therefore  does  not  concern  us 
here. 

The  potter's  wheel,  known  in  China  from  all  time,  is 
clearly  represented  on  the  wall  paintings  of  Thebes  and 
on  the  walls  of  the  tomb  of  Beni-Assan,  of  which  the  date 
is  nineteen  or  twenty  centuries  before  Christ.  But  it  was 
only  generally  employed  in  Europe  at  a  much  later  date. 

An  observation  which  applies  to  almost  all  the  products 
of  primitive  industry  has  been  made  upon  the  subjecjt  of 
pottery;  it  is  that  the  vessels  resemble  each  other  the 
more  closely  among  all  peoples  in  proportion  as  the  degree 
of  civilisation  attained  has  been  less  advanced.  They 
differ,  on  the  other  hand,  more  and  more  widely  in  form, 


VARIETIES   OF  TOTTERY.  311 

ornamentjition,  and  finish  of  workmanship,  as  soon  as  the 
artistic  anil  intellectual  culture  of  these  same  peoples  at- 
tains a  superior  stage  of  development,  and  the  individual 
genius  of  each  of  them,  released  from  the  fetters  of  in- 
stinctive imitation,  can  freely  follow  its  peculiar  bent. 

The  most  ancient  pottery,  like  that  of  our  own  day, 
was  employed  for  the  most  various  purposes.  Drinking 
cups,  cooking  vessels  of  cylindrical  or  very  expanded 
shapes,  offering  a  large  surface  to  the  action  of  the  heat, 
provision  vessels,  amphorge,  vessels  for  draining  the  whey 
from  cheese,  almost  identical  with  those  now  employed  for 
the  same  purpose  in  the  south  of  P>ance  ;  lamps,  some- 
times taken  for  vessels  for  containing  cream  ;  funeral  urns 
even — nothing  is  wanting  to  the  pottery  of  those  remote 
times  if  it  be  not  the  foolish  luxury  and  the  wasteful  use- 
lessness  of  these  days.  It  is  even  rare  to  see  prehistoric 
pottery  covered  with  any  species  of  glaz^,  even  with  that 
black  glaze  obtained  so  easily  from  graphite  and  sea  salt. 


312  PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

LANGUAGE  AND   WRITING. 

I.   THE  OKIGIN  OF  SPEECH. 

Had  primitive  man  an  articulate  language  or  no  ?  Had 
he  at  least  the  power  of  creating  it  ?  It  is,  in  my  opinion, 
an  error  to  assert  that  primitive  man  was  destitute  of 
speech,  as  Russell  Wallace  maintains  (Pithecanthropus 
alalus),  and  as  certain  Darwinists  still  think. ^  '  Language 
must  have  appeared  on  earth  simultaneously  with  man,' 
as  M.  Emile  Burnouf  admirably  says,  '  and  it  was  not  pre- 
ceded by  a  long  silence  ;  for  the  cause  which  produced 
this  silence  would  have  prevented  it  from  being  broken, 
and  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  could  have  put  an  end  to 
it.'  Now,  as  we  have  more  than  once  said,  we  put  no  faith 
in  such  miracles  ;  but  we  believe  in  the  admirable  laws 
which  modern  science  has  revealed  to  us,  and  which  preside 
at  the  birth  and  organisation  of  languages  as  at  those  of 
societies.  We  believe  that  languages  themselves  are 
organisms  which  have  their  life  in  embryo,  their  infancy, 
their  ripe  age,  their  changes,  their  distant  and  repeated 
migrations,  their  decadence  and  death.  We  are  firmly 
convinced  that  speech  is  a  natural  attribute  of  our  intel- 
lectual being,  a  faculty  inherent  in  our  nature,  a  necessity 
at  once  psychological  and  physiological.     We  speak,  not 

'  From  the  fact  that  microcephalous  human  beings  do  not  speak, 
Carl  Vogt  concludes  that  they  present  an  instance  of  atavism,  a  return 
towards  the  iSimian  stock  whence  the  entire  human  race  is  sprung. 
Microcephaly  is  an  abnormal  phenomenon  which  may  be  rudely  ex- 
l^lained  by  the  theory  of  arrostod  development,  without  the  necessity  of 
seeking  to  account  for  it  by  atavism,  still  less  by  a  return  to  the 
supposed  tSimio-human  type. 


LANGUAGE.  313 

merely  because  we  possess  all  the  organs  adapted  to  the 
emission  of  articulate  sounds,  but  still  more,  and  princi- 
pally, because  we  feel  the  need  of  speaking.  We  see  a 
proof  of  this  in  the  child  who  talks  to  her  dolls,  the  boy  to 
his  tin  soldiers  in  battle  array,  the  mother  to  her  new-born 
child.  The  need  of  communication  with  our  fellow- 
creatures  is  so  important  an  element  in  the  origin  of 
language,  that  the  child  brought  up  in  complete  solitude 
remains  dumb.  The  savage  of  Aveyron  was  an  instance  of 
this  fact. 

We  speak  as  the  nightingale  sings  in  the  spring,  as 
the  horse  neighs,  with  this  difference,  that  their  language 
is  purely  instinctive,  and  can  be  transmitted  by  physio- 
logical heredity,  while  ours  is  partly  the  product  of  instinct, 
but  still  more  diat  of  our  intelligence,  and  is  only  trans- 
mitted by  the  teaching  imparted  by  one  generation  to  the 
next.^  In  a  word,  as  Sir  John  Lubbock  justly  observes, 
'  Languages  are  human  in  the  sense  that  they  are  the  work 
of  man ;  divine  in  the  sense  that  man  in  creating  them 
made  use  of  a  faculty  with  which  Providence  had  endowed 
him.'  Another  profound  and  essential  difference  is  that 
the  natural  language  of  animals  is  only  understood,  with 
few  exceptions,  by  the  single  species  to  which  they  belong. 
We,  on  our  part,  are  possessed  of  universal  languages — 
music,  painting,  sculpture,  for  instance.  Besides,  our  lan- 
guages are  almost  infinite  in  variety  and  complexity  (the 
Basque  and  American  tongues,  &c/),  six  hundred  dialects 

»  The  learned  works  of  Darwin,  Taine,  Perez,  &c.,  tend  to  show  that 
the  origin  and  development  of  language  should  be  studied  in  the  child 
and  not  in  the  adult  man. 

2  Carl  Vogt's  theory  is  well  known.  It  explains  the  differences  in 
languages  hj  the  forms  of  the  skull,  and  consequently  of  the  brain 
itself.  ''Abstract  terms,  the  fruit  of  a  great  reflective  power,  belong  to 
those  races  with  an  upright  forehead,  which  indicates  a  considerable 
development  in  the  anterior  cerebral  lobes.  The  idioms  ot  races  with 
a  rounded  occiput,  which  indicates  a  great  development  of  the  cer- 
vicle,  an  organ  wliich  regulates  the  movements,  are  distinguislied  by 
their  variety  of  intonation  and  richness  in  concrete  terms.  The  idea 
of  the  learned  Swiss  naturalist  is  certainly  original ;  its  truth  remains 
to  be  proved,  and  I,  for  my  part,  mucli  doubt  whether  the  Greek 
language  has  a  greater  variety  of  intonation  than  the  Hottentot.  Tlie 
cervicle  has  been  endowed  by  physiologists  with  so  many  attribulei 


314  PRIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

are  reckoned  in  Europe  alone,  more  than  1,200  in  America 
(Wilson),  and  we  are  fai  from  being  acquainted  with  all 
the  idioms  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  Polynesia.  Lastly,  the 
same  language  undergoes  infinite  modifications  according 
to  time  and  place.  The  song  of  the  Thracian  nightingales, 
although  somewhat  improved,  says  the  legend,  by  the  lyre 
of  Orpheus,  was  probably  similar  in  every  respect  to  that 
of  the  nightingale  of  our  thickets.  The  language  of 
Marot,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  that  of  Eonsard,  still  less 
that  of  Lamartine. 

Besides  cries,  modulations  of  the  voice  (song  without 
articulate  words ),  gestures,  motions,  and  attitudes  of  the 
body,  prosopose  (movement  of  the  facial  muscles),  which 
express  our  emotions,  our  desires,  our  passions,  our  ideas, 
we  have  in  addition  to  these  forms  of  expression,  which 
we  possess  in  common  with  animals,  the  laugh,  expressive 
of  joy,^  the  unspoken  yet  moving  language  of  the  fine 
arts,  music,  painting,  sculpture,  and  architecture.  We 
speak  by  means  of  stone,  marble,  bronze,  colours,  musical 
sounds ;  of  hieroglyphics,  writing,  ribbons  (the  quipus 
of  Peru),  flowers,  cyphers,  algebraical  signs,  and  even  by 
means  of  electric  wires,  which  bear  our  thoughts  in  an 
instant  of  time  across  the  solitude  of  the  desert  and  vast 
expanse  of  the  ocean.  Lately  we  have  learnt  to  do  yet 
more ;  we  can  send  our  words  to  a  distance,  no  longer 
by  representing  them  to  the  sight  by  alphabetic  or  other 
conventional  signs,  but  with  all  the  intonations  of  the 
voice,  its  variations,  tenderness,  and  whisperings.  Yet 
further,  a  new  wonder  of  science  enables  us  to  reproduce 
at  will,  not  only  the  sounds  of  our  own  voice,  but  also 
those  of  the  voice  of  others.  What  anthropomorphic  ape 
ever  conceived  the  idea  of  such  inventions  ? 

While  recognising  that  articulate  language  is  a  spe- 
cial  faculty  of  man,  Darwin  believes  it    not   impossible 

that  it  seems  hardly  necessary  to  give  it  yet  another  which  ib  anything 
but  proved. 

'  If  a  Simian  ancestor  has  really  transmitted  to  us  the  germ  of  the 
faculties  which  we  now  possess,  how  could  he  endow  us  with  that  which 
he  had  not  himself — the  laugh,  articulate  language,  the  gift  for  the 
line  arts,  &c.  ?  ' 


ANCIENT  LANGUAGES.  3lD 

that  it  may  have  been  transmitted  to  him  by  a  Simian 
ancestor.  But  he  gives  very  insufficient  proof  in  sup- 
port of  so  bold  an  assertion.  '  JNlonkeys,'  he  says,  *  cer- 
tainly understand  much  of  what  is  said  to  them  by  man, 
and  as  in  a  natural  condition  they  are  able  to  utter  cries 
to  warn  their  companions  of  danger,  it  does  not  appear 
to  me  incredible  that  some  more  sagacious  ape  may  have 
conceived  the  idea  of  imitating  the  howling  of  a  wild 
beast  in  order  to  warn  his  fellows  of  the  species  of  danger 
which  threatened  them.  A  fact  of  this  kind  would  indi- 
cate the  first  step  towards  the  formation  of  a  language  ' 
('Descent  of  Man,'  p.  59).  This  is  all  very  well,  but 
what  has  become  of  this  ancestor,  our  clever  p7'ecursor, 
and  why  does  no  anthropomorphic  ape  of  our  own  day 
still  make  use  of  an  articulate  language  ? 

II.    SUPPOSED     CHARACTERISTICS    OF    PRIMITIVE 
TONGUES. 

Hebrew  is  no  longer  believed  to  be  the  most  ancient  of 
human  languages.  Sanskrit  itself  has  been  dethroned  by 
the  'Zend  Avesta,'  the  sacred  book  of  the  Magi.  As 
regards  Europe,  the  tongues  of  the  Finns  and  the  Basques 
long  enjoyed  great  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  most  learned 
philologists  as  the  primitive  European  languages.  Hum- 
boldt even  asserted  that  Basque  was  strictly  speaking  the 
only  European  tongue,  that  which  has  undergone  the 
least  modification,  and  has  retained  the  most  of  its  original 
structure,  a  clear  proof  in  his  eyes  of  the  great  antiquity 
of  the  Iberian  people  by  whom  it  is  spoken.  The  opinion 
of  the  famous  German  philosopher  has  been  widely 
adopted.  Whitney  himself  considers  the  Basque  language 
as  '  the  sole  surviving  relic  and  witness  of  an  aboriginal 
western  European  population,  dispossessed  by  the  intru- 
sive Indo-Eiu-opean  tribes.  It  stands  entirely  alone,  no 
kindred  having  yet  been  found  for  it  in  any  part  of  the 
world  ('  Life  and  Growth  of  Language,'  p.  212). 

Now  M.  Blade  has  shown  that  the  Basques  were  not 
an  TJjerian  people,  since  this  word  is  a  purely  geographical 
and  not  ethnological  term,  applicable  only  to  that  part  of 


316  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

the  population  of  the  Spanish  peninsula  which  had  settled 
on  the  banks  of  the  Iberiis  or  Ebro.  Moreover,  M.  Blade 
has  proved  that,  contrary  to  the  assertions  of  Humboldt, 
the  Basque  tongue  has  changed  since  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury to  such  a  degree  that  it  is  impossible  to  explain  the 
text  of  that  time.  Now  this  text  is  the  earliest  literary 
monument  of  that  language,  w^hich  is  doubtless  far  more 
ancient,  but,  nevertheless,  recent  enough,  since  it  is  only 
known  beyond  the  Pyrenees  from  the  twelfth  century, 
and  on  this  side  from  the  thirteenth. 

M.  Broca,  however,  agrees  with  Humboldt  in  con- 
sidering Basque  to  be  the  only  truly  indigenous  European 
language ;  and  he  believes  it  to  be  the  most  ancient  of  all 
those  now  spoken  in  our  continent.  The  Finnish  language, 
allied  to  the  Basque  in  the  opinion  of  some  philologists, 
has  in  his  opinion  no  analogy  with  it,  unless  it  be  in  the 
w^ell-kuown  negative  character  of  being  an  uninflected 
tongue.  Whatever  may  have  been  said  to  the  contrary, 
Basque  offers  also  no  analogy  with  the  American  dialects, 
nor  with  the  Berber  of  Northern  Africa.  M.  Broca  con- 
siders the  Basque  language  to  be  an  Iberian  idiom 
formerly  spoken  with  dialects  of  the  same  family  in 
Aquitaine,  in  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  peninsula,  and 
even  throughout  western  Europe.  The  introduction  of 
the  Aryan  tongues  of  Asia  with  the  people  who  spoke 
them  caused  these  Iberian  dialects  to  disappear  in  succes- 
sion ;  the  Basque  alone  persisted,  and  hence  it  still  forms 
an  isolated  spot  in  the  midst  of  the  domain  occupied  in 
Europe  by  Aryan  or  Turanian  languages  of  an  undoubtedly 
Asiatic  origin. 

M.  Virchow,  on  the  other  hand,  is  disposed  to  conclude, 
from  the  likeness  he  sees  between  the  skulls  of  the 
Guanchos  of  the  Canary  Isles  and  those  of  the  modern 
Basques,  that  the  latter  and  their  language  belong  to  the 
race  proper  to  those  ancient  islands  of  which  the  Canaries 
are  the  last  remains.  But  besides  the  foct  that  identity 
of  language  cannot  be  logically  concluded  from  the  simi- 
liarity  of  the  skulls,  and  conversely,  the  Prussian  savant 
himself  observes  that  the  time  is  not  ripe  for  a  well  estab- 


CENTRES   OF  LANGUAGES.  317 

lislit'd  decision  among  so  many  conflicting  opinions.  Tlie 
problem  is  yet  to  be  resolved,  and  I  fear  that  the  solution 
may  be  long  deferred. 

With  regard  to  the  question  whether  there  has  been 
at  any  time,  either  in  Europe,  or  in  the  other  quarters  of 
the  Old  World,  a  single  parent  language  whence  all  others 
are  derived,  we  have  no  hesitation  in  returning  a  negative 
answer  with  MM.  Burnouf,  Eenan,  and  Whitney.  '  No 
fact,  scientifically  analysed,  proves  that  all  languages  are 
derived  from  a  single  stock ;  hundreds  of  facts  indicate 
that  certain  centres  of  languages,  probably  in  considerable 
number,  were  formed  in  Asia,  in  Europe,  and  elsewhere, 
from  which  ramified  the  languages  and  dialects  of  later 
times.'  Burnouf,  Schleicher,  and  Miiller  hold  the  same 
opinion. 

Indeed,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  that,  even  before  the 
formation  of  our  most  distinctly  characterised  modern 
races,  migrations  took  place  in  different  directions  and 
owing  to  the  changed  conditions  of  life,  that  new  races 
and  new  idioms  arose  of  which  the  more  and  more  marked 
divergences  produced  that  variety  of  languages  which 
justly  excites  our  wonder  at  the  present  day,  and  is  one 
of  the  finest  privileges  of  humanity.  Here,  however,  we 
must  notice  the  remarkable  fact  that  there  is  not  always 
agreement  between  the  linguistic  type  and  the  ethnic 
character  of  the  race  to  which  it  belongs.  Thus  the 
Berbers,  for  instance,  who  undoubtedly  belong  to  the 
Caucasian  race,  nevertheless  speak  a  Semitic  tongue,  Arab, 
which,  as  is  well  known,  it  is  impossible  to  connect  with 
any  of  the  Indo-European  idioms.  The  Esthonians  and 
the  Lettons  ^  speak  an  Aryan  language,  and  are  never- 
theless, according  to  M.  de  Quatrefages,  of  Finnish  origin. 
The  Iroquois,  the  Dacotas,  and  the  Algonquins  appear  to 
belong  to  the  same  race,  yet  their  languages  have  nothing 

»  Letton  appears  to  be  the  earliest  Indo-Germanic  language  spoken 
in  Europe.  It  resembles  Sanskrit,  the  sacred  language  of  ancient  India, 
more  closely  than  any  other  European  idiom.  It  was  therefore  the 
precursor  of  the  Greek,  Latin,  Keltic,  German,  and  even  Slav  languages, 
which  hitter,  nevertheless,  oflEers  a  number  of  analogies  with  the  tongue 
of  the  Vedas. 


318  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

in  common,  at  least  as  far  as  their  vocabulary  is  con- 
cerned.^ 

But  if  identity  of  language  has  not  always  a  great 
ethnic  value,  it  is  not  the  same  with  the  irreducibility, 
that  is,  the  impossibility  of  tracing  them  all  back  to  a 
single  common  source.  This  quality  seems  the  most  con- 
vincing proof  of  the  multiplicity  of  the  centres  of  language. 
No  one,  for  instance,  would  dream  of  deriving  Chinese 
from  Hebrew  or  from  Sanskrit ;  these  tongues  have  no- 
thing in  common.  There  existed  therefore  not  one,  but 
several  primitive  languages,  the  work  of  man  obedient 
to  one  of  the  most  imperious  laws  of  his  nature — the  need 
of  communication  with  his  fellow-men. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  impossibility  of  reviving 
their  grammar  or  vocabulary,  since  they  are  all  long  since 
extinct.  But  it  is  a  generally  received  opinion  that  all 
languages  were  originally  monosyllabic,  as  Chinese  remains 
to  this  day.  The  monosyllabic  languages  were  succeeded 
by  the  agglutinative,  wiiich  are  characterised  by  the 
simple  juxtaposition  of  the  often  numerous  elements 
which  form  their  words  equivalent  to  a  whole  sentence  ; 
thence  the  names  polysynthetic,  holophrastic,  agghttina- 
tive,  by  which  they  are  variously  knowm.  The  great 
majority  of  the  American  idioms  belong  to  this  class,  the 
Otomi  being  an  exception.  Lastly,  we  have  the  inflected 
or  classic  languages.  Such  are  the  three  successive 
stages  of  language  before  it  attains  its  complete  develop- 
ment.* 

'  This  is  a  principle  upon  which  Whitney  insists,  when  he  says  that 
*the  incompetence  of  the  science  of  languag-e  to  pass  any  decisive 
judgment  as  to  the  unity  or  ihe  diversity  of  the  human  race  appears  to 
be  completely  and  irrevocably  demonstrated  ; '  and  again,  'Wholly  dis- 
cordant lang\iages  are  spoken  by  peoples  whom  the  ethnologist  would 
not  separate  in  race  from  one  another,  and  related  languages  are  spoken 
by  men  of  ap]iarently  different  race.'  (Whitney,  Life  and  Growth  of 
Layifjnnfie,  p.  222.) 

2  The  classification  of  languages  into  monosyllabic,  agglutinative,  and 
inflected,  has  hitherto  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  ;  but  Whitney,  who 
is  so  great  an  authority  on  the  subject,  considers  this  classification  as  in- 
accurate and  unnatural.  '  The  three  degrees  lie  in  a  certain  line  of 
progress,  but,  as  in  all  such  cases,  pass  into  one  anot.ier.  To  lay  any 
stress  upon  this  as  a  basis  of  classification  is  like  making  the  character 


GROWTH   OF  LANGUAGE.  319 

We  h:ive  already  said,  and  we  cannot  repeat  it  too 
often,  that  man  creates  the  words  of  the  idiom  he  speaks, 
in  virtue  of  the  incessant  activity  of  his  mind,  of  the 
necessity  of  a  new  word  to  express  a  new  idea,  and  of  the 
faculty  he  possesses  of  reasoning,  of  adapting  his  means 
to  his  ends,  and  thereby  attaining  them.  But  language 
as  a  whole  is  not,  of  course,  the  work  of  an  individual, 
often  almost  an  unconscious  though  a  voluntary  agent ; 
it  is  the  collective  work  of  the  entire  society  by  whom 
this  language  is  employed  as  an  instrument.  We  make 
words  as  we  make  tools,  at  the  demand  of  our  needs  or 
our  convenience  ;  the  idea  precedes  the  word,  just  as  the 
conception  of  the  tool  preceded  its  manufacture.  '  It  is 
as  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  idea  precedes  the  word 
as  that  the  child  exists  before  it  is  named,  although  the 
evidence  is  less  palpable  '  (Whitney).  Nothing  is  more 
true,  and  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  the  contrary 
theory  was  ever  maintained. 

Without  pretending  in  the  smallest  degree  to  furnish 
the  solution  of  the  enigma  which  still  puzzles  the  wisdom 
of  our  most  learned  linguists,  we  may,  with  some  show 
of  reason,  imagine  quaternary  man  expressing  his  feelings 
by  cries  resembling  interjections,  his  most  vivid  percep- 
tions by  onomatopoeia.  His  vocabulary  was  poor  in  words,* 
and  almost  entirely  destitute  of  abstract  terms ;  but  his 

of  the  hair  or  the  colour  of  the  skin  the  basis  of  classification  in  physical 
ethnology,  or  the  number  of  stamens  or  the  combination  of  leaves  in 
botany.     (Whitney,  Life  and  Gron-th  of  Language,  p.  227.) 

*  One  of  our  most  distinguished  Orientaiists,  M.  de  Dumast,  of  the 
Institute,  says :  '  The  older  and  more  primitive  a  language  is,  whether 
savage  or  no  matters  little,  the  richer  and  more  beautiful  it  is  with 
intrifisic  wealth  and  beauty.'— Quoted  by  Fee,  in  his  PMhso^Mcal 
Studies  0)1  the  Ln.^tiiict  and  Intelligence  of  Animals,  p.  131.  This 
assertion  does  not  tally  with  the  numerous  examples  of  very  imperfect 
languages  of  modern  savages  cited  by  Sir  John  Lubbock.  Chinese 
itself,  the  most  unchangeable  and  the  earliest  crystallised  of  all  known 
tongues,  is  far  from  being  remarkable  for  the  richness  of  its  vocabulary, 
or  of  grammatical  forms.  The  language  of  the  Bosjesman,  of  the 
iJotocudos,  and  of  tlie  Australian  is  far  more  imperfect  still.  Captain 
Burton  sajs  even  that  certain  Indian  tribes  of  North  America,  tlie 
Arapahoes  for  instance,  have  so  fjoor.a  vocabulary  that  they  cannot  talk 
to  each  other  in  the  dark,since  they  are  then  deprived  of  the  resource  of 
gesture  language,  which  is  indispensable  to  eke  out  their  scanty  words. 


320  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

speech  was  rich  in  metaphors,  teeming  with  images,  and 
reflecting  like  a  mirror  or  a  faithful  echo  the  lively 
emotions  of  his  soul  in  the  midst  of  a  still  virgin  nature. 
A  profuse  employment  of  gesture  accompanied  the  yet 
imperfect  expression  of  thought  and  feeling.  But  if  we 
can  attain  to  a  more  or  less  exact  idea  of  the  early  processes 
of  speech,  we  have  hitherto,  unfortunately,  no  means  of 
ascertaining  what  was  the  language  or  languages  long 
since  extinct  of  our  first  ancestors  ;  so  true  is  the  saying 
that  the  human  mind  is  to  itself  an  eternal  and  yet  ever- 
new  problem. 

We  may  mention,  however,  with  a  certain  pride,  that 
the  palaeontology  of  language,  joined  to  comparative 
philology,  has  already  led  such  men  as  Jacob  Grimm, 
Max  Miiller,  Schlegel,  Schleicher,  Pictet,  Whitney,  Hove- 
lacque,  Burnouf,  &c.,  to  very  curious  discoveries,  and 
the  future  has  probably  many  unexpected  revelations  in 
store  for  us.  We  need  not,  therefore,  interpret  too  lite- 
rally the  discouraging  words  of  M.  Caro  :  '  The  question  of 
origin  cannot  be  treated  by  experiment ;  we  can  advance 
nothing  on  these  great  subjects  which  can  be  thus  verified.'^ 
However  this  may  be,  man  never  was,  in  my  opinion,  this 
Pithecanthropus  alalus  whose  portrait  Hseckel  has  drawn 
as  if  he  had  seen  and  known  him,  whose  singular  and 
completely  hypothetical  genealogy  he  has  even  given, 
from  the  mere  mass  of  living  protoplasm  to  the  man 
endowed  with  speech  and  a  civilisation  analogous  to  that 
of  the  Australians  and  Papuans,  whose  origin  is  attributed 
to  the  beginning  of  the  diluvian  period  by  the  Prussian 
savant. 

III.    ORIGIN  OF   ^WRITING. 

Man  is  born  a  draughtsman  or  a  sculptor,  just  as  he  is 
born  a  poet  or  a  musician.  An  instinct  of  imitation  leads 
him  to  reproduce  the  forms  of  the  surrounding  objects, 
and  is  strongly  developed  even  in  the  child.  The  rude 
figures  which  he  traces  on  the  walls,  on  the  sand,  or  on 
paper,  as  soon  as  he  can  hold  a   pen  or  a  pencil,  bear 

»  Caro,  Ciyn;ptes-rendus  de  VAcademie  des  Sciences  Morales,  1S68. 


INVENTION   OF  WRITING.  321 

witness  to  tins  inborn  impulse,  common  to  all  mankind. 
If  the  drawings  intended  by  the  savage  tribes  of  North 
America  to  represent  men,  animals,  and  plants,  be  com- 
pared with  our  own  productions  when  we  were  seven  or 
eight  years  old,  we  shall  be  struck  by  the  resemblance,  so 
great  that  even  men  of  a  certain  erudition  have  been 
deceived  by  it. 

Every  one  knows  the  story  of  the  famous  '  Book  of  the 
Savages,'  which  the  Abbe  Domenech,  who  had  passed 
several  years  among  the  red-skins,  regarded  as  the 
authentic  work  of  the  latter,  as  a  record  of  great  import- 
ance to  the  science  of  ethnology,  whereas  it  is  now  proved 
that  this  supposed  '  Book  of  the  Savages  '  is  nothing  but  a 
lot  of  rude  figures  drawn  by  the  unskilled  hand  of  the  son 
of  a  Grerman  settler. 

This  likeness,  among  all  the  productions  of  the  first 
efforts  of  the  human  mind,  has  been  already  noticed  with 
regard  to  the  flint  weapons  and  tools  collected  from  the 
most  widely  separated  districts.  It  is  no  less  astonishing 
when  we  come  to  study  the  writing  of  savage  peoples,  and 
even  of  those  who  have  attained  to  some  degree  of  civili- 
sation. All  of  them,  in  inventing  the  graphic  art,  have 
aimed  at  giving  substance  to  their  thought,  have  en- 
deavoured to  materialise  it,  and  if  possible  to  perpetuate 
it ;  all  have  thereby  wished  to  supply  the  want  of  absent 
words,  and  even  to  paint  them  to  the  sight  for  the  present, 
and  still  more  for  future  time.  From  identity  of  purpose 
naturally  arose  identity  of  means,  and  writing,  multiplied 
by  the  genius  of  Gutenberg,  has  become  one  of  the  most 
powerful  instruments  of  progress  and  civilisation.' 

At  first  ideographic  and  entirely  pictorial,  as  it  still 
remains  among  several  Indian  tribes  of  North  America, 
writing  became  'phonetic^  then  syllabic,  and  lastly  alpha- 
bftical,  which  is  the  apogee  of  Scriptural  progress.  But 
alphabetical  characters  themselves,  those  of  which  Cadmus 
the  Phoenician  is  the  traditional  inventor,  had  a  distinctly 

'  Bacon  compares  writing:  to  a  sliip  which  crosses  the  vast  ocean  of 
time,  and  makes  all  ages  share  in  the  lights,  the  wisdom,  and  inventions 
of  past  times. 


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PICTURE  WRITING.  323 

pictorial  ori<T^in.  Ahph,  and  hefJf,  which  are  joirKnl  to 
make  tlie  word  alphabet,  had,  the  one,  the  form  of  an  ox's 
head,  the  other,  that  of  a  tent  or  house;  gimel,  the 
gamma  of  the  Greeks,  represented  a  camel,  daleth  or 
delta  a  door.^ 

The  first  form  of  picture  writing  is  merely  the  re- 
presentation of  the  living  creatures  or  inanimate  objects, 
a  tree,  a  stream,  a  lion.  This  is  picture-turitiur/  proper, 
of  which  we  here  reproduce  two  specimens.  The  one  is  a 
contemporary  Indian  petition  (fig.  140) ;  the  other  an 
Indian  love  song,  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  School- 


FiG.  141.  Example  of  picturr  avritixg. — Love  soxg. 

1.  Tlic  lovor  standing.  2.  The  same  seated,  playing  on  the  magic  drum.  3.  The  lover 
shut  into  a  secret  hut  by  his  magic  art.  4.  The  pair  holding  hands.  5.  Tlie  woman 
represented  in  an  island.  6.  She  lies  asleep,  lier  lover  addresses  her,  and  his  magic 
power  touches  licr  heart.  7.  His  lieart.  8.  Rei)reseuts  lier  maidenhood.  A  line  cor- 
responds to  each  figure  except  the  last.  Hero  is  the  translation  :  my  artistic  talent 
makes  me  a  god  ;  listen  to  tlie  sound  of  ray  voice,  of  my  song,  it  is  indeeil  my  voice  ; 
I  hide  my  head  when  seated  near  her  ;  I  c;in  make  her  blusli  since  I  hear  all  slie  says 
of  me  ;  were  she  in  a  far  distant  isle  I  could  reach  her  by  swimming,  even  if  she 
were  in  another  hemisphere.    I  speak  to  your  heart. 

craft  (fig.  141).  This  species  of  writing  is  naturally 
followed  by  pure  symbolism,  which  consists  in  expressing 
abstract  ideas  by  figures  which  suggest  them  in  the  mind 
of  another — a  bird  signifying  rapidity  ;  a  fox,  cunning ;  a 
serpent  holding  its  tail  in  its  mouth,  eternity;  a  sceptre, 
power.  From  this  to  phonetic  writing  there  is  but  a 
step,  but  it  is  a  long  one.     Here  the  image  or  symbol  be- 

'  In  astronomy  we  still  use  hiero,Grl}'phics  to  indicate  the  si<rns  of 
the  zodiac:  r  =the  Ram,  ><,  =theP>iiil,  n  =the  Twins,  /  =the  Archer, 
:Ct=the  Scales,  :^n  =Af|uarius.  Horizontal  nndulatincr  lines  arc  the 
sign  which  represents  water  in  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics. 


324  PEIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

comes  a  sound.  This  is  the  rebus,  which  is  really  only  a 
transition  by  the  ideographic  and  phonetic  forms. 

The  savages  of  America  furnish  a  number  of  examples 
of  these  different  kinds  of  writing,  and  Tylor  cites  some 
very  striking  ones  in  his  '  Early  History  of  Mankind.'  The 
development  of  writing  was  arrested  in  China  at  the 
syllabic  form ;  it  has  not  reached  the  alphabetical.  The 
characters,  considerably  modified  by  time  and  the  use  of 
the  pencil,  of  which  this  writing  is  composed,  are  divided 
into  two  classes  :  (1)  the  phonetic,  which  give  the  sound  ; 
(2)  the  determinative,  which  indicate  the  sense.  Thus 
the  sign  door,  accompanied  by  the  determinative  ear, 
means  to  listen.  The  same  sign  door,  joined  to  the  deter- 
minative heart,  expresses  the  word  sorrow.  The  Chinese 
characters,  which  are  purely  syllabic,  may  be  used  with 
equal  facility  in  Cochin  China,  Japan,  and  the  peninsula 
of  Corea,  and  to  each  it  is  possible  to  attach  words  which 
express  the  same  idea,  but  which  are  mutually  unintel- 
ligible to  the  people  who  employ  them.  Arab  and  Koman 
figures  give  an  idea  of  this  kind  of  writing ;  they  resemble 
it  inasmuch  as  the  notions  they  represent  are  the  same 
throughout  the  civilised  world,  but  the  word  by  which 
they  are  expressed  varies  with  the  nationality.  The  signs 
X  and  10,  for  instance,  represent  everjrwhere  the  number 
which  we  call  ten,  but  the  enunciation  of  this  number 
differs  sensibly  in  different  countries  :  hsKa  (Greek),  decern 
(Latin),  zehn  (Grerman),  died  (Italian),  dix  (French). 

The  hieroglyphic  writing  of  the  Egyptians  is  much 
more  learned  but  less  complicated  than  that  of  the  Aztecs, 
as  is  proved  by  a  comparison  of  the  tablets  of  Palenque 
with  the  inscriptions  at  Eosetta  or  on  the  Obelisks.  The 
characters  employed  in  the  Mexican  inscriptions  appear 
to  have  been  formed  of  an  assemblage  of  portions  of 
symbols  originally  used  in  their  integrity.  The  people 
who  made  use  of  this  writing  appear  to  have  been  in- 
spired with  the  polysynthetic  principle,  the  distinctive 
character  of  the  American  tongues,  agglutination,  com- 
pound or  6u^c/t-words  as  the  Americans  say.  But  it 
is  doubtful  if  the  hieroglyphs  of  Palenque,  of  wliich  tlie 


HEIROGLYnnC   WFvITING.  325 

Ficfnification  is  as  yet  unknown,  ever  had  a  phonetic  value 
like  those  of  the  Egyptians  and  of  the  Chinese.' 

It  will  be  seen  that  hieroglyphic  writing  in  general 
use  among  peoples  widely  separated  by  time  and  space, 
the  Egyptians,  Chinese,  and  American  Indians,  has  every- 
where an  essentially  pictorial  character.  No  remains  of 
writing  have  up  to  the  present  time  been  found  in  the 
places  where  the  bones  of  quaternary  man  are  found 
buried.  Dr.  Garrigou  nevertheless  says  that  he  ob- 
served a  species  of  hieroglyphic  signs  on  several  frag- 
ments of  reindeer  horn,  which  he  collected  in  the  caves 
of  La  Vache  and  of  jNIassat,  in  Ariege.  The  author  of  this 
discovery  is  jjerhaps  too  ready  to  see  in  these  the  first 
traces  of  writing  in  our  hands.  It  is  also  extremely  doubt- 
ful whether  the  signs  traced  upon  the  slabs  of  sandstone 
found  at  Chaleux,  mentioned  by  Professor  van  Beneden, 
should  be  regarded  as  graphic  characters.  Admitting  that 
in  the  two  above-mentioned  cases  we  are  really  dealing 
with  hieroglyphs,  what  is  their  signification  ?  It  may 
perhaps  be  found  at  some  future  time.  'When  Grote- 
fend,  the  first  to  undertake  to  decipher  the  signs  found 
upon  the  Assyrian  moniunents,  began  his  task,  it  was  un- 
known whether  they  really  constituted  a  written  character, 
of  if  they  were  merely  ornaments ;  not  a  word  of  the 
language  to  which  they  presumably  belonged  was  known  ; 
we  were  ignorant  from  what  epoch  they  dated.  Neither 
was  it  known  whether  the  alphabet  was  phonetic,  syllabic, 
or  hieroglyphic.  Now  at  the  present  day  we  are  acquainted 
with  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  of  Cyrus,  Darius,  Xerxes, 
Artaxerxes  I.,  &c.  We  are  provided  with  translations, 
grammars,  and  dictionaries  of  them.'  (F.  Garrigou, 
*  L'Age  du  Renne  dans  la  Grotte  de  la  Vache,  pres  de 
Tarascon  [Ariege],'  p.  5.) 

'  A  few  examples  are  however  cited,  whic>i  tend  to  prove  that,  at 
the  time  of  the  conquest,  the  Mexicans  were  in  process  of  giving  a 
phonetic  value  to  their  hieroglyphs.  The  name  of  Itzli-coatl,  for 
instance,  the  fourth  king  of  Mexico,  is  represented  hy  a  serpent  (coatl), 
from  the  spine  of  which  ob-idian  knives  (jYrZ/)  protrude  ;  whence  Jtzli- 
coatl,  like  our  rchnx.  (See  TyXor,  Early  UUtoi-y  of  Mankind,  and  Evjins, 
Revue  Scientijique,  1873,  p.  657.) 

15 


326  PRIMITIVE   CmLISATION. 

Archaeology  has  not  said  its  last  word  on  the  subject  of 
records  of  prehistoric  ages.  According  to  Grote,  writing 
was  unknown  in  the  time  of  Homer  and  Hesiod  (850-776 
B.C.)  Now  the  excavations  made  at  great  expense  l)y 
Schliemann  on  the  site  of  ancient  Troy  have  brought  to 
light  an  earthenware  vessel,  made  without  the  help  of  the 
potter's  wheel,  and  bearing  an  inscription  probably  in 
Trojan  characters.  Homer  sang  of  the  fall  of  Troy  about 
seven  hundred  years  after  the  taking  of  the  town.  We 
must  therefore  conclude,  in  spite  of  Grote's  assertion  to  the 
contrary,  that  writing  existed  in  Illyria  long  before  Homer. 
We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  Sir  John  Evans,  a  most 
competent  authority,  affirms  that  writing  was  unknown  in 
the  age  of  stone,  and  that  no  well-established  fact  has  yet 
been  discovered  in  support  of  the  contrary  opinion. 


327 


CHAPTER  Vir. 
RELIGION. 

I.    RELIGIOUS  IDEAS  OE  PRIMITIVE  MAW. 

I  MUST  begin  by  declaring,  to  avoid  any  misunder- 
standing, that  I  leave  entirely  on  one  side  all  revealed 
religion.  Revealed  religion  commands  our  faith  and  sub- 
jugates our  reason;  science  requires  freedom  of  search 
and  appeals  to  facts.  Now  positive  facts,  in  all  that  con- 
cerns the  religious  ideas  and  ceremonies  of  our  earliest 
ancestors,  are  as  yet  very  few  in  number,  so  few  indeed 
that  there  is  not,  to  my  knowledge,  a  single  one  from 
which  any  certain  conclusion  can  be  drawn.  We  are 
therefore  reduced  to  induction  and  analogy,  and  both  of 
these  means  of  proof  are  often  deceptive.  Yet  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  Grod  has  always  revealed  himself  to  man  in 
his  works,  and  whatever  Statins  may  say,  the  gods  are  not 
merely  the  creation  of  fear.  The  mind  has  an  equal 
share  with  the  heart  in  the  conception  of  a  divine 
Being,  of  a  Supreme  Cause ;  but  this  idea  was  of  slow  pro- 
gressive development  in  primitive  man,  advancing  almost 
imperceptibly  by  an  instinctive  and  spontaneous  move- 
ment. 'Just  as  the  knowledge  of  our  ego  and  of  the 
exterior  world  was  not  acquired  spontaneously,  without 
effort,  reflection,  or  experience,  so  the  idea  of  the  existence 
of  God,  at  first  embryonic,  so  to  speak,  has  need,  in  order 
to  attain  its  complete  development,  of  slow  and  successive 
efforts  of  the  human  mind  which  has  conceived  it.  Here 
we  have  not,  as  yet,  direct  intuition  ;  there  is  only  slow 
and  painful  labour,  which,  from  induction  to  induction, 
reflection  to  reflection,  leads  us  at  length  to  this  supreme 
affirmation  :  God  is.'     (Compayre.) 


328  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

M.  Ampere  has  given  us  an  interesting  account  of  a 
young  American  girl  named  Laura  Bridgman,  deaf  and 
dumb  from  her  birth,  and  shortly  afterwards  deprived  of 
her  sight  by  an  illness.  She  was  consequently  reduced 
to  the  senses  of  touch,  taste,  and  smell.  Dr.  Howe  and 
his  wife  undertook  the  education  of  this  child.  By  their 
united  efforts,  and  their  wonderful  patience  and  humanity, 
they  succeeded  in  teaching  Laura  to  read  and  write,  and 
even  the  two  simplest  rules  of  arithmetic,  addition  and 
subtraction.  She  even  acquired  the  notion  of  a  God,  in 
the  same  way  as  philosophers,  by  the  idea  of  causality. 
*  There  are  things  which  men  cannot  produce,'  she  said ; 
'  the  rain,  for  instance.'  Here  M.  Ampere  justly  remarks, 
'  It  was  not  the  spectacle  of  nature  speaking  to  her  under- 
standing ;  nature  was  veiled,  and  the  thunder  was  dumb 
to  her ;  the  sensation  produced  by  the  fall  of  a  drop  of 
water  was  sufficient  to  give  rise  in  her  mind  to  this 
question  as  to  the  cause,  which  man  asks  of  necessity, 
and  to  which  there  is  but  one  answer :  God.' 

Primitive  man  followed  no  other  method.  The 
modern  savage  thinks  but  little,  but  he  feels  readily  and 
keenly.  The  great  scenes  of  nature  which  are  ever  before 
his  eyes,  the  unceasing  peril  which  threatens  his  life, 
poor  and  uncultivated  as  it  is,  the  conviction  so  often  im- 
pressed by  his  own  weakness,  the  pressing  need  of  some 
support,  that  inborn  yearning  for  the  unknown,'  that  love 
of  mystery  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  human  heart :  here  are 
more  than  enough  reasons  to  lead  man  to  the  conception 
of  a  Supreme  Cause,  to  the  notion  of  a  divine  Being. 

The  Idea  of  God  is  at  first  individual,  infinitesimal, 
sometimes  strange  and  childish ;  it  grows  purer  and  larger 
with  the  growth  of  the  natural  intelligence  and  acquired 
instruction  of  him  who  conceives  it.  Then  from  being  in- 
dividual it  becomes  collective ;  and  finally,  passed  from 
one  to  the  other,  it  progresses  gradually  until  it  attains  to 
this  formula,  of  which  the  abstraction  borders  on  the  incom- 

•  '  Yes  tlie  God  we  must  believe  in  is  a  bidden  God,'  say  tbe  Roman 
Catholics  themselves. 


FIRST   CONCEPTION   OF   DEITY.  329 

prehensible  :  '  Power,  love,  and  wisdom,  united  yet  divided, 
compose  His  being.' 

^lan,  then,  as  he  came  from  nature's  hands,  was  en- 
dowed with  too  weak  an  understanding  to  enable  him  to 
attain  at  once  to  a  clear  and  precise  knowledge  of  the 
divinity ;  still  less  was  he  capable  of  understanding  the 
refined  and  almost  mystic  dogma  of  the  higher  religions, 
for  dogma  is  the  work  of  science  and  religion,  the  ex- 
pression of  their  results.  But  in  the  beginning  it  was 
nothing  but  the  expression  of  the  thought  of  the  in- 
dividual, a  thought  soon  submitted  by  others  to  an  ex- 
amination more  or  less  severe,  then  adopted  by  the 
majority  of  the  tribe,  and  passing  afterwards  into  a  collec- 
tive belief.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  there  may  have 
existed,  that  people  still  exist  in  a  savage  condition,  with- 
out a  generally  recognised  dogma,  and  consequently  with- 
out religion,  using  the  word  in  its  most  commonly  accepted 
meaning.  On  this  essential  point  we  think  we  may  place 
great  confidence  in  the  evidence  of  Livingstone,  Sir 
Samuel  Baker,  Dr.  Monnat,  Dalton,  Lichtenstein,  and 
many  other  travellers  as  learned  as  they  are  trustworthy. 
Now  these  travellers  assure  us  that  in  the  interior  of 
Africa,  in  America,  and  elsewhere  there  are  entire  tribes 
who  have  no  idea  of  the  divinity,  no  notion  of  a  future 
life ;  we  may  even  go  so  far  as  to  say  no  idea  of  morals. 
Dr.  Monnat  says,  speaking  of  the  Mincopies,  or  inhabitants 
of  the  Andaman  Isles  :  '  They  cover  themselves  with  mud 
and  tattooing,  but  they  wear  no  clothes  ;  they  seem  indeed 
to  be  deprived  of  any  sense  of  shame,  and  many  of  their 
customs  are  like  those  of  the  brute.  They  have  no  idea 
of  a  Supreme  Being,  nor  religion,  nor  any  belief  m  a 
future  life.  .  .  .  They  possess  no  dogs  nor  domestic  animals 
of  any  kind.'  Another  modern  traveller,  Sir  Samuel 
Baker,  affirms  that  the  negro  of  Central  Africa  has  not 
the  remotest  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  or  First  Cause  of 
the  universe,  and  his  understanding  is  incapable  of  such  a 
conception.  The  feeling  of  adoration  is  unknown  to  him. 
He  possesses  no  representation  of  any  deity  whatever. 
For  him,  immortality  is  purely  genealogical ;    the  indi- 


330  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

vidual  survives  only  in  his  descendants.  If  he  performa 
any  superstitious  ceremony,  if  he  sacrifices  birds,  it  is 
only  to  seek  in  their  convulsive  motions  prognostications 
relating  to  the  ordinary  interests  of  life ;  but  no  essentially 
religious  idea  is  connected  with  the  practice,  invented  by 
the  imagination  of  a  magician,  and  maintained  by  bhnd 
tradition.  Livingstone  affirms  that  '  among  the  Bechuanas 
and  all  Central  African  tribes  there  is  a  total  absence  of 
worship,  idols,  and  of  all  religious  ideas.'  ^  Still  more 
recently  Sir  Massinger  Bradley  spoke  of  an  Australian 
tribe  which  lived  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  in  a  district 
situated  in  35°  lat.  south,  and  139°  30'  east  long.  Their 
language  is  monosyllabic,  '  consisting,'  he  says,  *  of  cries 
more  or  less  resembling  those  of  animals.  .  .  .  They  have 
no  superstitions  of  any  kind,  and  have  not  the  least  notion 
of  a  future  life.^ 

Lastly,  we  are  informed  by  the  scientific  commission 
of  Mexico  that  the  Indians  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Santiago,  whose  physical  character  resembles  that  of  the 
(Chinese  and  the  Mongols,  had  no  religious  ideas  before  the 
coming  of  the  Conquerors.  *  Many  writers  who  are  author- 
ities on  this  matter,'  says  Sir  John  Lubbock, '  are  of  opinion 
that  no  people  is  destitute  of  some  sort  of  religion.  This 
theory,  however,  does  not  agree  with  the  statements  of 
many  trustworthy  observers.  Sailors,  merchants,  and 
philosophers,  Catholic  priests  and  Protestant  missionaries, 
in  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  in  every  quarter  of  the 
globe,  concur  in  affirming  that  there  are  races  without 
any  species  of  religion.  Their  testimony  has  the  more 
weight  that  in  many  cases  this  fact  has  greatly  surprised 
the  observer,  and  was  in  complete  opposition  to  all  his 
preconceived  ideas.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  owned 
that  travellers  have  denied  the  existence  of  a  religion, 
because  the  creed  it  professed  was  entirely  contrary  to  our 
own.  The  question  as  to  the  universal  existence  of  re- 
ligion among  men  is  after  all,  in  great  measure,  a  matter 
of  definition.     If  to  constitute  a  religion  a  mere  feeling 

'  Report  of  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris,  p.  227,  1864. 
*  Bfivue  Soientifique,  Nov.  15,  1873,  p.  473. 


INSTINCTIVE  RELIGIOUS   IDEAS.  331 

of  fear,  the  single  idea  in  man  that  there  are  very  likely 
beiDgs  more  powerful  than  himself,  be  sufficient,  it  may, 
I  think,  be  admitted  that  the  entire  human  race  is  in 
possession  of  religion.' 

Professor  Broca,  on  his  part,  in  a  paper  remarkable  for 
its  good  sound  sense  and  scientific  loyalty,  agrees  with 
several  of  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  Anthro- 
pological Society  of  Paris  in  declaring  that  he  has  no  doubt 
whatever  '  that  there  are  among  the  inferior  races  peoples 
without  worship,  dogma,  metaphysical  ideas,  or  collective 
belief,  and  consequently  without  religion.'  ^  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  after  such  an  assertion,  M.  Broca,  far  from  con- 
sidering the  religious  instinct  as  universal  and  inseparable 
from  human  nature,  sees  in  it  where  it  exists  merely  one 
form  of  submission  to  a  higher  authority,  an  effect  of 
the  teaching  received  in  childhood,  but  not  an  original 
characteristic  faculty. 

This  opinion  found,  as  we  have  said,  a  number  of 
adherents  in  the  Anthropological  Society  of  Paris.  M.  de 
Quatrefages  continues  nevertheless  to  believe  that  the 
religious  instinct  is  one  of  the  original  and  essential 
characteristics  of  humanity,  and  he  reckons  in  the  list 
of  theistic  and  even  religious  people,  the  Australians, 
the  Melanesians,  the  Hottentots,  the  Kaffirs,  the  Be- 
chuanas,  the  Yebous,  the  ^lincopies,  in  fine,  all  the  races 
among  whom  the  authors  we  have  quoted  deny  the  exist- 
ence of  all  religious  ideas.  ('  The  Human  Pace,'  page 
349.) 

If  we  accept  the  Abbe  Lamennais'  definition  of  religion, 
as  the  '  assemblage  of  all  the  necessary  laws  of  creation,' 
it  is  evident  that,  under  this  acceptation,  religion  is  only 
accessible  to  pliilosophers  who  have  long  studied  these 
laws ;  but  if  we  accept  this  other  definition  of  the  same 
author,  'the  union  of  man  with  God  and  of  man  with 
man,'  it  is  not  less  evident  that  religion  may  be  under- 
stood, felt,  and  practised  as  well  by  the  savage  as  by  men 
who  have  attained  to  an  advanced  state  of  civilisation. 

'  Rej)ort  of  the  AnthrojJological  Sucicty  of  Fori s,  18G6,  p.  63. 


332  PEIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

In  order  to  be  properly  qualified  to  discuss  the 
question  at  issue,  M.  de  Quatrefages  wisely  recommends 
a  thorough  and  close  study  of  the  inferior  religions ;  for 
in  all  of  them  the  observer  will  find  in  a  state  of  embryo, 
so  to  speak,  the  two  following  general  formulas,  whichj'^in 
fact,  sum  up  all  the  doctrines  and  all  the  dogmas  of  the 
great  rehgions  which  are  now  spread  over  the  surface  of 
the  globe  (Brahminism,  Buddhism,  Judaism,  Mahomet- 
anism,  Christianity):  — 

1.  Belief  in  beings  superior  to  man,  with  power  over 
his  destiny  for  good  or  for  evil. 

2.  Belief  in  an  after  life,  a  future  beyond  the  grave. 

^  '  Every  people,  every  man  who  believes  in  these  two 
things  is  religious,  and  observation  is  ever  increasing  the 
number  of  proofs  of  the  universality  of  this  character.' 
('The  Human  Eace,'  p.  356.) 

M.  Emile  Burnouf,on  his  part,  justly  points  out  that  if 
man,  however  savage  we  may  consider  him,  '  had  not  cast 
a  thoughtful  glance  at  Xature,  who  brings  him  his  joy  and 
his  sorrow,  if  he  had  not  thought  that  he  perceived  in  her 
invisible  and  sovereign  forces,  he  would  not  have  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  condensing  in  some  sort  the  powers  of 
the  universe  in  a  piece  of  wood,  a  stone,  in  some  remains 
of  a  coarse  tissue.'     This  is  fetichism,  it  will  be  objected. 
It  is  so,  I  readily  confess,   but  fetichism  is  precisely  the 
lowest  and  most  rudimentary  natural  expression  of  religion; 
it  is  the  worship  of  tribes  belonging  to  the  lowest  degree 
of  the  social  scale.      From  fetichism  to  the  worship  of 
idols  made   in   the  image  of  man,  to  the  worship  of  man 
himself,  there  is  but  a  step.    There  is  a  manifest  tendency 
to    anthropomorphism   in    all   the    religions   which    are 
rightly  styled  inferior.     It  even  recurs  more  or  less  ob- 
viously, or  more  or  less  disguised  in  the  great  modern 
religions.     Suffice  it  to  mention  here  the  Grand  Lama, 
the  object  of  worship  of  a  whole  people,  for  we  need  not 
name  all  the  heroes  and   gods  of  Olympus,   so  like  in 
many  respects  to  the  most  ordinary  mortals.     There  is  a 
foundation  of  truth  in  the  jest  that  if  God  made  man  in 
his  own  image,  it  must  be  owned  that  man  does  as  much 


ANTHEOPOMORPHISM.  333 

by  him.  Jehovah  himself  is  frequently  represented  in 
Koman  Catholic  churches  under  the  form  of  a  venerable 
and  majestic  old  man.  According  to  Lubbock,  the  Tartars 
of  the  Altai  Mountains  picture  God  also  as  a  white-bearded 
old  man,  but  at  the  same  time  they  dress  him  in  the  uni- 
form of  a  Eussian  ofl&cer  of  dragoons.  {'  Origin  of  Civilisa- 
tion,' p.  227.) 

Led  astray  by  the  fear  or  horror  inspired  by  certain 
animals,  by  the  services  which  others  render  him,  or 
by  the  erroneous  ideas  he  has  conceived  respecting  them, 
man  has  often  rendered  them  a  religious  homage.  This 
animal  worship,  so  extensive  in  India  and  in  ancient 
Egypt  (the  ox,  apis,  anubis,  the  sacred  ibis),  has  left 
traces,  in  a  completely  symbolic  form  it  is  true,  even  in 
Christianity  itself  (the  Paschal  Lamb,  the  White  Dove, 
symbol  of  the  Holy  Ghost) :  so  true  it  is  that  man  is  ooie 
in  spite  of  apparent  diversities. 

If  man  is  morally  one,  if  the  entire  human  race  is  now 
in  sympathy  with  respect  to  certain  ideas,  certain  feel- 
ings, certain  tendencies  which  recur  equally  in  every  part 
of  the  globe,  it  is  exceedingly  probable  that  from  the 
earliest  quaternary  times,  and  therefore  all  the  more  in 
the  following  age,  we  shall  be  able  to  find  traces  of  a 
collective  belief  in  superior  beings,  good  or  evil,  and  in  a 
future  life.  From  the  natural  impulse  to  be  rendered 
acceptable  to  the  one,  to  endeavour  to  withdraw  from  the 
hm-tful  power  of  the  other,  arise  prayer,  adoration,  wor- 
ship, sacrifice,  offerings,  and  superstitious  practices  of  every 
kind.  But  as  soon  as  the  idea  of  a  God  is  clearly  con- 
ceived, the  great  monotheistical  religions  follow  as  surely 
as  the  conclusion  follows  the  premisses.  In  all,  the  funda- 
mental principle,  that  is  the  dogma,  is  at  bottom  the 
same ;  the  ceremony,  the  form  of  worship,  the  religious 
paraphernalia,  the  outer  and  accessory  forms  alone  vary 
(Judaism,  Mahometanism,  Christianity). 

II.    \70ilSHIP  AND  AMULETS. 

We  will  now  enter  into  some  details  more  especially 
relating  to  prehistoric  man.     M.  Piette  found  in  the  cave 


334  PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

of  Grourdan  (reindeer  age)  a  species  of  amulet  worthy  of 
serious  consideration.  This  is  a  disc  pierced  with  a  hole 
in  the  centre,  from  the  circumference  of  which  start 
diverging  lines.  The  author  of  this  discovery  observed 
the  same  sign  engraved  three  times  upon  a  wand  of  office, 
and  he  considers  it  to  be  the  image  of  the  Sun  God, 
worshipped,  as  he  thinks,  by  the  troglodytes  of  the 
Pyrenees.  This  interpretation  seems  plausible,  but  it 
needs  more  numerous  and  more  decisive  proofs  to  be 
universally  adopted. 

The  crescents  of  the  Swiss  lake  dwellings,  which  were 
at  first  regarded  as  religious  symbols  indicating  the  worship 
of  the  moon,  appear  to  have  been  merely  rests  for  the 
head  during  sleep,  or  destined  perhaps  to  preserve  the 
construction  of  an  elaborate  head-dress.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  Fiji  Isles  still  use  wooden  pillars  for  a  similar  pur- 
pose, and  also  to  render  the  occiput  round  and  protrud- 
ing. M.  de  Quatrefages  is  inclined  to  regard  a  mammoth 
bone  found  by  M.  Ed.  Dupont  in  the  hole  of  Chaleux,  in 
]5elgium,  as  a  species  of  fetich  worshipped  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  district.  The  mammoth  had  at  that  epoch 
been  long  extinct,  and  it  is  probable  that  they  mistook 
one  of  its  bones  for  that  of  a  giant,  and  were  thereby  led 
to  worship  it. 

However  this  may  be,  the  wearing  of  amulets,  a  custom 
which  became  almost  universal  at  the  end  of  the  reindeer 
age,  and  during  the  whole  of  the  neolithic  period,  shows 
at  least  the  existence  of  superstitions  very  similar  to 
those  which  still  reign  in  our  country  districts,  and  even 
in  the  heart  of  our  so-called  civilised  towns :  the  tradi- 
tions of  old  times  handed  down  to  us,  which  perpetuate 
the  memory  of  one  of  the  earliest  stages  in  the  life  of 
humanity. 

In  his  interesting  work  upon  the  Nuraghi  of  Sardinia, 
the  Abbe  Spano  regards  the  monoliths  (a  species  of 
menhir  or  stela)  which  are  placed  in  front  of  the  dwel- 
lings, as  representing  the  sun,  the  creator  and  life-giver 
of  all  being,  otherwise  the  Baal  or  Melarth  of  the  Sidon- 
ians.     Some  of  these  monoliths,  smaller  than  the  preced- 


WORSHIP   AND   AMULETS.  335 

ing,  and  carved  with  the  representation  of  two  breasts 
towards  the  summit,  are  probably  figures  of  Astarte,  the 
moon,  the  inseparable  companion  of  Baal,  who,  by  the 
humidity  which  she  diffuses  over  the  whole  earth,  encour- 
ages the  increase  of  all  living  creatures  (fig.  57).  If  we 
were  to  believe  the  Abbe  Spano,  this  worship  of  Baal 
and  of  Astarte  was  imported  into  Sardinia  by  the  first 
emigrants  from  the  plains  of  Sennaar.  According  to  the 
Sardinian  peasants,  on  the  other  hand,  these  monoliths  are 
human  beings,  who  left  the  true  religion  to  worship  the 
sun  and  moon,  and  whom  God  punished  by  changing 
them  to  stone  after  having  deprived  them  of  their  feet 
and  hands.  Probably  neither  peasant  nor  savant  is  right, 
since  the  men  of  the  archseolithic  and  even  of  the  neolithic 
age  are  far  anterior  to  the  Chaldean  emigrations. 

If,  as  M.  de  Baye  supposes,  the  female  figures  rudely 
carved  upon  the  chalk  walls  of  the  artificial  caves  of  the 
^larne  really  represent  a  divinity,  we  must  conclude  that 
the  inhabitants  of  Champagne  practised  likewise,  in  the 
later  stone  epoch,  the  rites  of  a  religion  akin  to  fetichism 
or  anthropomorphism. 

Cranial  Amulets,  and  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul. — 
We  have  already  given  from  M.  Broca's  description  an 
account  of  the  processes  employed  in  trepanning  the 
skulls  of  infants  and  of  adults  in  the  neolithic  age. 
This  operation  was  sometimes  practised  upon  the  living 
subject,  especially  upon  children  and  young  people  (sur- 
gical trepanning'),  and  sometimes  upon  the  dead  body 
before  burial  (posthumous  trepanning). 

In  all  time,  and  even  in  modern  days,  superstition, 
the  faithful  companion  of  ignorance,  has  been  allied  to 
medicine  and  surgery.  In  every  epoch  certain  nervous 
diseases,  such  as  convulsions,  delirium,  epilepsy,  and 
madness,  have  been  considered  either  as  sacred,  or  as  the 
indication  of  the  possession  of  body  and  soul  by  demons 

'  M.  Broca  remarks  that  the  term  'surgical  trepanninp: '  is  not  strictly 
correct,  since  the  hole  made  in  the  bone  of  the  skull  was  not  obtained 
by  means  of  a  pointed  instrument  moved  In  a  circle,  but  by  merely 
scraping  the  surface  with  a  sharp  flint  blade 


336  PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

or  other  evil  spirits.  Hence  the  idea  naturally  arose  of 
opening  a  door  through  which  to  expel  them.  Hence  also 
the  mystic  origin  of  trepanning  practised  upon  the  living 
subject. 

And  as  convulsions  and  epilepsy  (a  supposed  sacred 
disease)  are  commoner  in  children  than  adults,  we  find 
a  large  number  of  perforated  or  trepanned  skulls  among 
young  people.  The  subject  himself  was  considered  to  be 
beloved  of  the  gods  if  he  survived  the  operation^  and  was 


Fig.  142.  Skull  trkpaxned  during  life  and  after  death,  taken  from 

ONE  OF  the  dolmens  CALLED  ClBOURNIOS,  OR  ToMBS  OF  THE  PoiLACRES. 

Presented  to  the  Anthropoloijcical  Institute  of  Paris  by  M.  Prunieres. 
A  B,  Healed  edge  of  the  surgical  trepanning.    B  c,  A  d,  Edees  cut  or  sawn  after  death. 
This  same  skull  is  shown  on  page  354,  seen  from  above. 

cured  of  the  disease.  The  bones  of  his  skull  were  reputed 
to  possess  wonderful  therapeutic  properties  ;  they  counter- 
acted witchcraft,  and  preserved  from  disease.  This  was 
more  than  enough  to  cause  our  neolithic  ancestors  to  pro- 
cure the  trepanned  fragments  wliich  were  the  object  of 
their  veneration,  and  to  wear  them  aa  amulets  and  precious 
talismans. 


CRANIAL  AMULETS. 


337 


After  the  death  of  persons  who  had  while  living  nnder- 
gone  surgical  trepanning,  a  sort  of  posthumous  trepanning 
was  practised  upon  them,  which  consisted  in  taking  from 
the  skull  circular  pieces  and  fragments  of  various  forms, 
taking  care  always  to  preserve  on  one  of  the  edges  of  each 
piece  of  bone  a  part  of  the  cicatrised  edge  of  the  original 
opening  (fig.  142).  That  was  in  some  sort  the  authentic 
signature,  the  trade-mark  of  the  coveted  talisman,  whicli 
was  thereby  rendered  so  precious  to  the  fortunate  posses- 
sor.    The  healed  edge  does  in  fact  exist  upon  nearly  all 


Fig.  143.  Craxtal  amulet,  with     Fig.  144.  iRRKGrLAR  cranial  amvlet, 


GROOVE    FOR     PASSING   A   CORD. 

Taken  from  the  dolmen  caUed 
Cave  of  the  Fairies,  in  Lozere. 
Collection  of  M.  Prunieres. 
(Natural  size). 


WITH    A    HOLK    IN     THE    MIDDLE     FOR 

THE  PASSAGE  OF  A  CORD.     Collection 
of  M.  Prmiiercs.     (Natural  size). 


the  posthumous  amulets :  which  proves  beyond  a  doubt 
that  the  subject  trepanned  while  living  had  long  sur- 
vived the  operation.  This  edge  is  smooth  ;  but  it  is  dis- 
tinguished from  the  remaining  edges  of  the  amulet,  in 
that  the  newly-formed  bony  substance  covers  the  cells  of 
the  diploe,  whereas  the  cells  are  visible  in  the  other  parts 
from  the  very  effect  of  the  polishing  (figs.  143,  144). 

The  discs  with  polished  edges  were,  it  appears,  fancy 
amulets,  and  are  much   rarer  than  the   unpolished  ones. 


338  PEIMITI7E  CIVILISATION. 

Both  were,  however,  cut  from  the  bone  of  the  skull  with 
a  flint  knife  or  saw,  at  the  celebration  of  the  funeral. 

We  have  said  that  the  most  skilfully  wrought  discs, 
those  which  were  of  most  value,  were  found  in  skulls  from 
which  a  great  part  of  the  outer  bone  had  been  removed 
by  posthumous  trepanning.  They  had  evidently  been 
purposely  placed  there.  But  M.  Broca  naturally  asks 
what  end  these  intra-cranial  amulets  were  intended  to 
serve.  *Were  they  a  symbol,  a  representation  of  the 
great  portion  of  the  skull  removed  by  the  operation  of 
trepanning  ?  It  is  hardly  likely,  since  any  fragment  of  a 
skull  might  have  been  employed  for  this  purpose  ;  and 
the  precious  amulet  would  not  have  been  so  lightly 
sacrificed.  The  intra-cranial  amulet  meant  much  more 
than  that.  It  was  a  viaticum,  a  talisman  which  the 
deceased  carried  away  with  him  into  another  life  to  bring 
him  luck,  and  to  protect  him  from  the  influence  of  the  evil 
spirits  who  had  tormented  his  childhood.  But,  even  if  we 
admit  the  first  hypothesis,  it  none  the  less  indicates  the 
belief  that  a  new  life  awaited  the  dead  ;  for  otherwise  there 
would  have  been  no  motive  whatever  for  the  ceremony  of 
restitution.  The  study  of  prehistoric  trepanning  and  the 
attendant  ceremonies  prove,  therefore,  incontrovertibly, 
that  the  men  of  the  neolithic  age  believed  in  a  future 
life,  in  which  the  dead  retained  their  individuality.  It 
is,  I  think,  the  earliest  epoch  to  which  we  can  attribute 
this  belief.' 

We  remark,  finally,  that  prehistoric  trepanning  was 
practised  in  the  land  afterwards  known  as  France  during 
the  whole  of  the  neolithic  age.  Undoubted  traces  of  the 
same  custom  are  also  found  in  the  dolmens  of  Africa,  and 
even,  although  it  is  true  with  a  different  purpose,  in 
Mexico,  Peru,  and  the  JNIounds  of  Michigan. 

WorsJtip  of  the  Dead, — We  come  now  to  consider  the 
signification  of  those  female  figm^es  with  pointed  nose 
and  prominent  breasts,  found  in  the  artificial  caves  of 
Champagne,  and  which  recall  to  a  certain  extent  the 
figures  of  Minerva,  with  the  owl's  face,  yXavKMirts  'A67]V7], 
wbich  unknown  artists  have  modelled  on  the  great  clay 


SIGN   OF  THE  CROSS.  339 

vases  dug  up  from  the  ruins  of  ancient  Troy  l)y  Dr. 
Schliemauu.^ 

How  are  we  to  interpret  these  facts  ?  What  correla- 
tion exists  among  them  ? 

If  it  be  true,  as  Herbert  Spencer  supposes,  that  the 
worship  of  ancestors  and  of  the  dead  is  the  first  origin  of 
all  religions,  the  burial  caves  of  the  Marne,  and  of  a  great 

'  According  to  M.  Em.  Burnouf  and  Sclilieraann  himself,  the  vases 
in  question  represent  the  goddess  Minerva,  and  testify  to  her  primitive 
worship  in  Greece.  With  regard  to  the  sivostihas,  which  nearly  always 
accompany  them,  they  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the  authors  we  have  just 
cited,  true  religious  symbols,  similar,  but  far  anterior  to  the  cross  of 
the  Christians.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg 
tells  us  that  the  Mexican  Indians  adored  the  cross  long  before  the  con- 
quest, and  invoked  its  aid  in  praying  for  rain  after  a  long  drought. 
According  to  Wilson,  the  Maltese  cross  often  adorns  the  antique  pottery 
of  Peru,  and  it  is  also  found  in  the  carvings  of  Mitla  and  Falenque,  a 
circumstance  which  has  given  rise  to  the  most  extravagant  deductions 
and  the  most  absurd  explanations  on  the  part  of  archaeologists,  who, 
not  wishing  to  go  back  earlier  than  the  time  of  Christ,  regard  the 
crosses  figured  upon  non-Cliristian  monuments  as  a  religious  symbol 
formed  by  the  reunion  of  four  Greek  gammas  (7).  Now  we  know  at 
the  present  day  beyond  all  doubt  that  these  supposed  gammas  are 
nothing  but  the  swastika  pM  of  the  Brahmans  of  India,  that  is,  the 
representation  of  the  wooden  instrument  of  the  same  name  employed 
with  the  2}^(^f"onthd,  or  tire-stick,  to  produce  the  sacred  tire,  agni.  This 
sign  is  figured  in  the  Eamayana  on  the  prow  of  King  Rama's  ship,  who 
certainly  knew  no  Greek  ;  and  it  appears  also  on  a  number  of  Buddhist 
monuments.  Lastly,  we  know  that  the  followers  of  Vishnu  make  this 
sign  upon  their  forehead,  as  did  the  Christians  of  the  early  Church. 
M.  Gabriel  de  Mortillet  has  proved  that  the  sign  of  the  cross,  used  as  a 
sacred  emblem,  preceded  by  a  thousand  years  the  ini  reduction  of 
Christianity  into  Gaul.  It  may  be  seen  on  the  pottery  found  at  Aix,  in 
Savoy,  on  more  than  half  the  vases  taken  from  the  terramari  of  Emilia 
(age  of  bronze),  lastly,  upon  all  the  tombs  of  the  cemeteries  of  Golascua, 
near  LagoMaggiore,  and  of  Villanova,  near  Bologna  (age  of  iron).  The 
cross  then  occurs  everywhere,  as  M.  Em.  Burnouf  justly  observes;  but 
is  he  right  in  adding  solely  in  the  Aryan  race  ?  The  earrings  of  Mitla 
and  Falenque,  the  black  earthenware  of  Peru,  mentioned  above,  justify 
our  doubting  this  assertion.  But,  it  is  now  established  by  undoubted 
proofs  that  the  sign  of  the  cross  was  known  and  employed  as  a  religious 
symbol  long  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  With  regard  to  the  meaning 
or  the  sign  resembling  a  St.  Andrew's  cross,  wliich  MM.  Lartet  and 
Christy  observed  upon  an  arrow  head  of  reindeer-horn  {Ihl.  Aquit. 
pi.  X.  tig.  G)  found  by  them  in  one  of  the  bone  caves  of  IVrigord,  we 
shall  not  try  to  see  therein  tljc  sign  of  the  cross  dating  from  the  age  of 
mammoth  and  cave-bear,  and  many  will  be  inclined  to  imitate  oar 
reserve. 


340  PRIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

many  other  places,  the  dolmens  and  monoliths  of  Sar- 
dinia would  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  question. 
Nothing  prevents  us  from  considering,  indeed  everything 
leads  us  to  regard,  these  monolithic  monuments  as  the 
expression  of  a  religious  idea,  a  worship  of  the  dead, 
based  upon  the  notion,  more  or  less  distinct,  or  more  or 
less  vague,  of  a  future  life.  What,  moreover,  could  be 
the  meaning  of  these  weapons,  these  provision  vessels, 
these  funeral  urns,  found  in  the  gigantic  tombs  in  the 
burial  caves  and  grottos,  if  not  an  affectionate  respect 
for  the  dead,  the  idea  still  completely  material  and  rude 
of  a  future  life,  similar  in  most  respects  to  the  present, 
and  subject  to  the  same  necessities  ? 

The  famous  cave  of  Aurignac  (Haute-Garonne)  seemed 
to  have  furnished  an  invincible  proof  in  favour  of  the 
existence  of  religious  ideas  and  practices,  and  of  a  wor- 
ship of  the  dead  at  an  epoch  as  early  as  the  cave  bear. 
At  sight  of  the  human  bones  found  buried  therein,  people 
talked  of  funeral  ceremonies  and  feasts,  of  well-defined 
religious  beliefs  in  times  far  anterior  to  all  history  and  all 
tradition.  The  only  mistake  was  one  of  date,  for  the 
most  recent  researches  of  MM.  Cartailhac  and  Trutat 
have  proved  that  all  these  practices  must  be  attributed 
only  to  the  neolithic  age. 

Dr.  Noulet  arrived  at  the  same  result  in  exploring  with 
the  care  and  wisdom  which  characterise  him  the  bm'ial 
place  of  the  Herm,  reputed  to  be  much  more  ancient  than 
it  really  is.  On  the  other  hand,  the  human  bodies  lying 
above  the  ancient  hearths  of  Solutre  prove  that,  as  early 
as  the  reindeer  age,  the  tribe  which  had  settled  in  this 
district  near  Macon  rendered  funeral  honours  to  their 
dead,  and  that  they  possessed  notions  of  a  future  life 
nearly  similar  to  those  which  are  revealed  to  us  in  the 
age  of  polished  stone. 

From  the  above  facts  and  considerations,  it  results 
that  we  possess  but  very  few  proofs  and  positive  facts 
testifying  in  favour  of  the  existence  of  religion  among  our 
ancestors  previous  to  the  neolithic  age.  But  if  it  be  true 
that,  as  Lamennais  says,  every  being  tends  towards  God, 


CANNIBALISM.  34 1 

tends  to  unite  itself  to  him  as  far  as  its  nature  allows ;  if 
reliirion  itself  is  but  this  union  realised  by  heart  and 
mind,  if  the  idea  of  a  future  life  is  only  a  spontaneous 
aspiration  after  the  Infinite,  primitive  man  himself  can- 
not have  been  exempted  from  this  impulse  of.  all  human 
nature. 

III.     CANNIBALISM    AND    HUMAN    SACRIFICE. 

It  is  extremely  probable  that  the  primitive  peoples  oi 
Europe  were  addicted  to  cannibalism,  though  we  have 
hitherto  no  certain  proof  of  the  fact.  Yet,  when  we  con- 
sider that  this  barbarous  custom  is  still  widely  diffused  in 
Polynesia,  in  New  Zealand,  in  Australia,  in  the  islands 
of  Sunda  and  Sumatra,  in  Central  and  Southern  Africa, 
and  among  some  of  the  tribes  of  Hindostan  and  of  Ame- 
rica ;  when  Strabo  and  Pliny  assure  us  that  in  their  time 
the  Germans  and  Kelts  were  cannibals ;  lastly,  when 
Caesar  says  that  the  Vascons  were  still  anthropophagous, 
we  should  have  no  reason  to  be  surprised  if  later  re- 
searches placed  it  beyond  a  doubt  that  quaternary  Euro- 
pean man  resembled  the  Vascons  in  this  respect. 

Even  now  there  are  indications  which  seem  to  con- 
firm this  hideous  resemblance.  In  certain  caves  human 
bones  have  been  discovered,  more  or  less  charred  or  split 
like  those  of  animals,  probably  for  the  pm-pose  of  extract- 
ing the  marrow,  which  was  considered  as  a  great  delicacy. 
Some  of  these  bones  are  marked  with  scratches,  rare,  but 
quite  visible  at  their  spongy  extremities,  and  even  the 
print  of  teeth,  which  certain  palaeontologists  believe  to  be 
human. 

At  the  station  of  Saint  Marc  (reindeer  age),  near  Aix, 
in  Provence,  M.  Marion  found  among  the  remains  upon 
the  hearths  some  calcined  human  bones,  broken  and 
split  to  allow  of  the  extraction  of  the  marrow.  He  un- 
hesitatingly concludes  from  this  ftict  that  the  tribes  of 
the  archaBolithic  age  occasionally  fed  upon  human  flesh. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  all  these  carbonised  bones  split 
lengthways  belong  to  young  people,  and  that  the  station 
of  Aix   shows  no  sign  of  having  been  used  as  a  place  of 


342  PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

burial.     M.  Capellini  also  says  that  he  has  recently  found 
traces  of  cannibalism  in  Italy. 

Observations  similar  to  the  preceding  had  already 
been  made  in  Scotland  upon  the  bones  of  women  and 
children,  by  Kichard  Owen  ;  in  Belgium,  by  Spring ;  and 
those  two  savants  had  suspected  them  to  be  proofs  of  the 
practice  of  cannibalism.  M.  Worsae  likewise  believes  in 
the  existence  of  anthropophagy  and  human  sacrifice 
among  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Denmark. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  possible  that  the  scratches  or  marks 
in  question  are  merely  the  work  of  certain  rodents — mice 
and  rats  for  instance.  It  is  to  these  animals  that  Dr. 
Noulet  attributes  very  similar  marks  observed  upon  three 
portions  of  a  human  humerus  taken  by  him  from  a 
sepulchre,  dating  from  the  age  of  polished  stone,  and 
wrongly  attributed,  it  seems,  to  the  epoch  of  the  cave  bear 
(cave  of  the  Herm).^ 

Whether  we  adopt  this  opinion  or  no,  it  is  not  un- 
reasoT^able  to  imagine  that  the  hunger  of  the  first  inhabi- 
tants of  European  soil  was  not  always  satisfied,  and  that 
their  savage  passions  led  them  to  feed,  at  least  accident- 
ally and  locally,  upon  the  flesh  of  their  fellow-creatures. 
The  same  causes  produce  everyw^here  the  same  effects. 
M.  Schafifhausen,  therefore,  does  not  hesitate  to  say,  '  We 
are  no  longer  astonished  at  the  description  of  a  people 
addicted  to  cannibal  practices.  We  find  among  all  peoples 
the  traces  of  this  primitive  barbarism  :  it  is  in  some  sort 
a  necessity  to  which  they  were  all  at  one  time  subject.'  ^ 

Carl  Vogt  is  even  more  explicit  upon  this  important 
point.  '  There  is  not,'  he  says,  '  a  single  race,  a  people  of 
importance,  or  any  important  geographical  group  of  men, 
among  whom  cannibalism  and  human  sacrifice  did  not 
formerly  exist.  Black,  brown,  yellow,  and  white-skinned 
races,  woolly-haired  and  smooth-haired  men  ;  Europeans, 

•  See  in  the  Memoires  dc  V Academic  des  Sciences,  Tnacynpiians et  Belles 
Lettres  de  Toulouse,  1874,  Dr.  Noulefs  work  entitled,  fyude  sur  la 
Caverne  de  VHerm,i)arUculihri'ment  an  point  de  vue  de  Vd^e  des  reatet 
humains  qui  en  ont  He  retires. 

2  lievue  Scientifquc,  1872,  p.  1064. 


CAUSES   or   CANNIBALISM.  343 

Asiatics,  Africans,  Americans,  Australians,  and  Polynesians, 
Semites  and  Hamites,  all  without  exception  have  sacriticed 
and  devom*ed  their  fellows;  and,  where  historical  docu- 
ments and  writings  are  wanting,  the  broken  and  gnawed 
bones  bear  witness  to  the  fact.'  ^ 

Far  from  subscribing  to  the  paradox  of  Rousseau,  that 
all  things  are  perfect  when  they  leave  the  hands  of  Nature, 
M.  H.  Bouley  -  sees  in  primitive  cannibalism  the  proof  of 
a  considerable  imperfection.  '  Man,'  says  he,  '  when  he 
left  the  hands  of  Nature,'  to  quote  Rousseau,  *was  not 
absolutely  scrupulous  in  his  strife  for  existence,  and  if  he 
fed  upon  the  flesh  of  the  brutes  he  procured  by  the  chase, 
a  morsel  of  that  of  his  fellows  was  not  revolting  to  him. 
Hunger  was  his  justification  ;  but,  if  this  means  of  nom'ish- 
ment  may  be  explained,  and  even  excused  by  the  necessity 
of  the  time  when  it  was  commonly  practised,  it  should  not 
be  invoked  as  a  rery  convincing  proof  of  the  perfection  of 
primitive  humanity.  On  the  contrary,  a  great  progress 
was  soon  realised,  and  humanity  made  a  step  towards  a 
better  state  of  things,  when  the  conquest  of  domestic 
animals  assured  to  man  his  subsistence  for  the  morrow. 
This  point  of  view  magnifies  considerably  the  services  for 
which  we  are  indebted  to  our  inferior  brethren,  as  Saint- 
Francois  de  Sales  calls  them,  who  saved  man  from  himself, 
that  is  from  the  fury  of  his  unsatisfied  appetite,  which 
drove  him  to  prey  upon  his  fellows.' 

In  truth,  as  soon  as  man  begins  to  cultivate  the  land, 
as  soon  as  he  is  in  possession  of  domestic  animals,  it  is 
very  rare  that  he  does  not  renounce  the  practice  of  feed- 
ing upon  human  flesh,  supposing  that  he  had  formerly 
been  accustomed  to  do  so.  The  natives  of  the  Society 
Islands  are  an  instance  in  point,  for  their  admirable  cli- 
mate and  luxuriant  vegetation  favoured  the  transformation 
wonderfully ;  as  also  are  a  number  of  wandering  and  savage 
tribes  in  the  New  World,  who  have  left  a  condition  of 
extreme  barbarism,  and  are  now  attached  to  the  soil  - 
thanks  to  those  who  gave  to  them,  with  words  of  peace, 

1  Prehidcrric  Congrcgx  of  Bologna,  1871,  Rt'^oi-t,  p,  328. 
'  lievue  ScicJitiJi(iue,  1875,  p.  31. 


344  PKIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

the  first  domestic  animals,  and  the  first  notions  of  agricul- 
ture. These  tribes,  formerly  cannibal,  have  gradually 
become  more  civilised  ;  the  life  of  their  neighbours  has 
become  sacred,  as  it  should  be,  to  all  the  members  of 
that  great 'family  which  is  called  humanity. 

The  legends  of  the  fabulous  times  of  Gxeece  and  Egypt 
are  not  myths  created  at  will  by  the  fertile  imagination  of 
these  ancient  peoples.  Ceres  and  Triptolemus,  by  the  in- 
vention of  the  plough,  really  gave  birth  to  civilisation. 

But,  unfortunately,  hunger  is  not  the  only  motive  which 
leads  or  has  led  certain  peoples  to  the  practice  of  canni- 
balism, and  has  even  induced  them  to  make  it  a  national 
institution.  The  abuse  of  absolute  power,  vengeance, 
superstition,  and  prejudice  claim  also  a  large  share  in 
this  barbarous  custom,  a  crime  of  high  treason  against 
humanity.  Thus,  for  example,  in  the  Viti  Islands,  in 
an  admirable  climate,  among  a  people  cultivating  the 
yam,  skilled  in  weaving  and  the  making  of  earthenware 
vessels,  cannibalism  was,  in  1854,  a  national  institution 
at  Mbau,  the  capital  of  the  island  and  the  residence  of 
the  King  Cakombau ;  human  flesh  was  publicly  sold ; 
the  vessels  and  ovens  in  which  it  was  cooked  were 
never  cold ;  and  there  were  slaughter-houses  in  different 
parts  of  the  island,  where  human  victims  were  daily 
sacrificed,  and  in  greater  numbers  at  the  celebration 
of  certain  solemnities.  Messrs.  Seaman  and  Pritchard, 
eye-witnesses  of  the  scene,  give  a  graphic  account  of  the 
massacre  of  hundreds  of  prisoners  and  criminals,  in  honour 
of  the  king's  son,  who,  having  arrived  at  the  age  of  man- 
hood, was  about  to  put  on  the  dress  of  the  maro. 

'  The  corpses  were  piled  together  in  an  enormous  heap, 
on  the  top  of  which  a  living  slave  was  thrown.  The 
initiated  youth,  naked  until  that  day  (for  only  the  men 
w^ear  a  rag  of  clothing),  separated  himself  from  the  com- 
panions of  bis  childhood,  climbed  up  the  frightful  scaffold 
of  corpses,  and,  standing  upon  the  breast  of  the  living 
slave,  he  waved  a  sword  and  mace,  while  the  priests  invoked 
upon  him  the  protection  of  the  genii,  and  prayed  them 
to  make  him  conqueror  in  every  battle.     The  assembled 


HUMAN   SACRIFICES.  345 

crowd  was  accustomed  to  mingle  their  applause  with  these 
horrible  imprecations.  Then  two  uncles  of  the  prince 
mounted  in  their  turn  the  heap  of  victims :  it  was  their 
office  to  gird  him  with  the  maro,  a  belt  of  tapa,  a  texture 
worn  in  the  country,  white  as  snow,  and  only  six  or  eight 
inches  in  width,  but  two  hundred  yards  in  length,  so  that 
he  was  completely  enveloped  in  it.' 

'  Quite  recently  (June  1878),  one  of  the  best  informed 
superior  officers  in  the  French  navy, M.  Henri  Jouan,  wlio 
has  long  resided  in  Oceania,  addressed  the  Linna^an  Society 
of  Normandy  upon  this  subject.  We  regret  the  impossi- 
bility of  reproducing  the  whole  of  this  interesting  paper 
which  he  has  been  kind  enough  to  communicate  to  us, 
and  which  brings  new  proofs  in  confirmation  of  the  theories 
which  we  have  akeady  made  known  in  the  Revue  Scien- 
tifiqve  of  Sept.  1877.  As  an  eye-witness  of  the  facts, 
iNI.  Henri  Jouan  speaks  with  undoubted  authority.  Now 
it  results  from  his  observations  that  all  the  peoples  of 
Oceania  formerly  practised,  or  still  practise,  cannibahsm 
to  a  degree  which  tends  to  diminish,  and  even  to  dis- 
appear, at  the  present  day,  but  which  reveals  a  sort  of 
primitive  and  unconscious  instinct,  which  even  now  at 
times  amounts  to  ferocity.  Nothing,  not  even  the  horrible 
tortures  inflicted  by  the  savage  tribes  of  America  upon 
their  captives,  can  equal  the  refinement  of  cruelty  to 
which  the  unhappy  victims  of  the  vengeance,  prejudice,  or 
superstition  of  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand  or  the  natives 
of  the  Y\]\  Isles  are  exposed. 

We  mentioned  just  now  the  ceremony  of  the  maro, 
and  the  bloody  sacrifices  which  accompany  it ;  but  it  is 
impossible  to  form  an  idea  of  the  brutal  despotism  and 
cold-blooded  cruelty  of  the  Fijian  chiefs  in  certain  cir- 
cumstances, the  horrible  details  of  which  are  told  us  by 
the  sailor  Jackson,  of  the  English  navy.  Can  it  be  believed 
that  living  men  were  used  as  rollers  to  facilitate  the 
launching  of  a  large  and  heavy  canoe?  These  wretches 
were  wrapped  in  plantain  stems  which  made  them  look 
like  round  beams  of  wood,  and  their  thickness  was  so 
calculated    that   they   might   be    slowly    crushed  during 


346  PKIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 

the  operation.  'Another  time,'  says  M.  Jouan,  'in 
building  the  house  of  a  chief,  living  slaves  were  thrown 
beneath  each  of  the  pillars ;  they  were  supposed  to  sup- 
port the  roof  of  the  houses  over  the  head  of  the  chief.' 
What,  when  compared  with  these  horrors,  is  the  rape  of 
women  and  children  intended  to  be  merely  killed  and 
eaten  upon  the  occasion  of  some  national  fete  or  any  other 
event  of  importance  ? 

The  influence  of  cannibal  customs  and  the  prejudices 
attendant  on  them  is  so  great,  that  in  1861,  during  the 
war  made  upon  the  Enghsh  by  the  Maoris  to  recover 
their  independence,  the  barbarous  inhabitants  of  the  south 
of  New  Zealand  tore  out  and  devoured  the  hearts  of  English 
soldiers  killed  in  battle,  imagining  that  they  would  thereby 
inherit  the  courage  of  their  enemies,  whose  superiority 
in  every  respect  they  fully  recognised.  Yet  M.  Jouan  adds, 
fi'om  whom  we  also  borrow  this  characteristic  detail,  these 
same  Maoris  were  Christians,  ardent  Protestants,  who, 
some  short  time  previously,  had  bitterly  complained  that 
the  English  had  broken  the  Sabbath  in  attacking  them  by 
surprise  one  Sunday  in  service-time. 

Besides  those  already  mentioned  there  is  yet  another 
cause  for  that  craving  for  human  flesh  which  is  often 
overpowering.  Once  formed,  this  taste,  depraved  in  the 
civilised  state,  but  partly  natural  and  almost  universal,  it 
seems,  in  the  savage  or  half-barbarous  state,  may  some- 
times become  really  irresistible.  In  nearly  the  whole  of 
Oceania  the  wars  are  nearly  always  undertaken  merely  for 
the  avowed  and  premeditated  purpose  of  feasting  upon 
the  flesh  of  the  vanquished. 

In  the  Marquesas  Isles  women  and  children  alone 
figure  in  the  feast  of  the  cannibals.  And  why  ?  Because 
the  flesh  is  more  tender  and  delicate  than  that  of  men. 
The  latter,  according  to  a  gourmet  well  qualified  to  judge 
(a  chief  of  the  tribe  of  the  Naikis  of  Noukahiva),  is  even 
much  inferior  to  pork.  The  New  Caledonians  find  the 
flesh  of  white  men  bad  and  terribly  salt ;  neither  do  they 
vahie  that  of  the  tribes  who  dwell  upon  the  coast,  because 
it  has  a  very  disagreeable  taste  of  bad  fish.     A  number 


HUMAN  SACRIFICES.  347 

of  observations  made  by  INT.  Jouan  upon  the  tribes  of 
Oceania  whom  he  has  been  able  to  study  at  leisure  and  at 
first  hand,  lead  him  to  conclude  by  analoe^y  and  induction 
that  our  prehistoric  ancestors  practised,  like  them,  canni- 
balism and  human  sacrifice. 

Even  in  our  own  day  the  sacrifice  of  human  victims  is 
carried  out  upon  a  large  scale  in  Dahomey,  and  the  king 
himself  does  not  scruple  to  stain  his  royal  hands  with  the 
blood  of  his  subjects,  or  of  prisoners  taken  in  his  wars 
with  hostile  tribes.  Is  it  possible  to  carry  to  greater  length 
the  abuse  of  absolute  authority,  culd-blooded  cruelty,  or 
contempt  for  human  life  ? 

Among  savage  tribes,  to  kill  an  enemy,  or  to  expose 
hira  to  horrible  torture,  and  then  to  devour  his  quiver- 
ing flesh,  is  an  almost  universal  custom ;  to  offer  him  to 
the  gods  is  a  homage  which  they  claim,  a  most  efficacious 
means  for  obtaining  their  favour  or  appeasing  their  wrath. 
It  is  also  the  surest  method  of  inoculating  the  donor  with 
tbe  courage,  strength,  and  all  the  moral  and  intellectual 
qualities  of  the  victim  ;  in  a  word,  of  assimilating  his  soul, 
as  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand  believe.  This  is  precisely 
the  explanation  of  the  cannibal  practices  and  bloody  sacri- 
fices which  still  obtain  in  modern  days,  not  only  among  the 
barbarous  Polynesians,  but  also  among  nations  who  have 
long  emerged  from  a  state  of  barbarism,  and  who  are, 
moreover,  in  daily  contact  with  the  advanced  civilisation 
of  the  English  in  India,  or  of  the  French  in  the  Marquesas 
Isles,  and  even  in  Algeria.' 

Voltaire  had  good  reason  for  his  surprise  at  the  wide 
diffusion  of  the  atrocious  customs  found  even  among  tribes 
remarkable  for  their  refined  and  hospitable  manners.  How 
is  it,  he  said,  that  men  so  widely  separated  should  be 
unanimous  in  such  a  horrible  practice  ?    Must  we  believe 

'  A  quite  recent  event  (1873),  the  assassina'ion  of  Captain  ITart 
and  his  wife,  who  were  both  eaten  by  the  inliabitants  of  the  Maniuesas 
Isles,  leaves  no  doubt  of  the  persistence  of  certain  practices  which  have 
almost  become  hereditary  instincts.  We  still  remember  wiih  horror 
the  cannibalism  which  only  a  few  }ears  ago  was  revealed  to  us  by  om 
tribunals  in  Algeria. 


348  PEIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

that  it  IS  not  so  absolutely  contrary  to  human  nature  as  it 
appears  ?  Howevei  painful  this  avowal  may  be,  it  must 
be  confessed,  in  face  of  the  proofs  furnished  by  palaeonto- 
logy, that  the  horrible  custom  alluded  to  by  Voltaire  was 
formerly,  and  still  remains,  more  widely  spread  than  he 
believed.  We  read  in  the  Journal  des  Savants  (August 
1867),  in  a  remarkable  paper  by  M.  Saint-Hilaire  upon 
human  sacrifice  in  India,  an  account  of  the  Khonds 
settled  among  the  mountains  of  Orissa,  one  of  the  most 
fertile  districts  of  the  peninsula,  a  people  who  cultivate 
the  soil  and  gather  in  rich  harvests,  and  who  yet  cut  to 
pieces,  as  it  were  with  delight,  their  meriahs,  and  dis- 
tribute pieces  of  the  flesh  among  the  assembly,  and  offer 
to  Bera,  goddess  of  the  earth,  human  hecatombs,  un- 
equalled except  by  those  of  the  ancient  Mexicans.' 

'  What,  then,'  exclaims  M.  Saint-Hilaire — '  what  are 
these  races  where  horrors  so  great  and  so  enduring  are 
possible  ?  What  especially  are  these  Khonds,  among  whom 
human  beings  are  slaughtered  more  lightly  and  in  greater 
numbers  than  animals  in  Greek  and  Koman  paganism  ? 
Here  even  the  word  hecatomb,  strictly  used,  is  insuf- 
ficient ;  it  does  not  express  the  whole  truth.  In  pagan 
antiquity,  the  hundred  oxen  were  rarely  sacrificed ;  in 
Orissa  several  hundreds  of  human  beings  are  slaughtered 
at  once  in  several  villages  united  for  this  single  purpose, 
while  on  all  other  occasions  they  are  ever  at  odds.  The 
Roman  people  in  their  holidays  put  to  death,  to  satisfy 
the  thirst  for  such  bloody  spectacles,  thousands  of  gladia- 
tors in  a  single  day ;  occasionally  even  they  offered  human 
sacrifice.  Other  peoples,  indeed  most  peoples,  formerly 
disgraced  themselves  by  such  crimes.  The  Spanish  In- 
quisition burnt  thousands  at  the  stake  as  late  as  the 
eighteenth   century.      But   where    shall   we    find    such 

*  The  number  of  human  victims  sacrificed  to  the  gods  amounted 
annually  to  more  than  20,000  in  the  single  town  of  Mexico.  Human 
sacrilice  appears  to  have  been  practised  by  the  mound  builders  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  with  respect  to  whom  there  is  still  so  much 
uncertainty.  Wilson  tells  us  that  upon  one  of  their  altars,  covered 
with  spangles  of  silvered  mica,  some  carbonised  human  bones  were 
found  in  suthcient  numbers  to  form  together  a  complete  skeleton. 


CANNIBALISM.  H4«J 

vast  sacrifices  organii^ed  for  a  purpose  so  selfisli  and  so 
absurd?  Where,  above  all,  shall  we  find  thcs(;  crimes 
committed  in  cold  blood  in  modern  times,  and  by  tribes 
iu  contact  with  our  civilisation  ?  Cannibals  are  more  ex- 
cusable, since  they  at  least  can  plead  the  pangs  of  hunger 
and  the  near  approach  of  death,  only  to  be  avoided  by 
these  bloody  repasts.  In  what  grade  of  humanity  must 
we  place  the  Khonds  ?  who  could  be  ranked  below  them  ? 
Can  there  be  anything  more  mournful,  more  unheard  of 
among  the  surprises  which  the  history  of  humanity  has 
in  store  for  us  ?  These  are  problems  for  the  philosophy 
of  history.  What  is  man,  considered  in  this  sink  of  filth 
and  blood  ? ' 

Thanks  to  the  energy  and  courage  of  ]Major  Campbell 
and  Lieut.  Macpherson,  the  fierce  inhabitants  of  the 
mountains  of  Orissa  have  at  length  been  induced,  not 
without  extreme  diflSculty,  to  renounce  their  bloody  sacri- 
fices. But  the  deep  root  which  this  custom  had  taken 
from  long  habit,  and  the  strength  it  had  gained  from 
superstition,  are  proved  by  the  almost  naive  complaints 
which  they  made  to  the  English  ambassadors,  and  the  re- 
sponsibility which  they  laid  upon  the  new  masters,  should 
the  displeasure  of  the  goddess  Bera  lead  her  to  withdraw 
from  the  tribes  of  Khondistan  the  protection  she  had 
until  then  accorded  them.  These  complaints  show  how 
readily  the  human  conscience  is  quieted  and  perverted  by 
the  persuasive  voices  of  superstition  and  ignorance.  In 
presence  of  these  facts,  unfortunately  but  too  well  authen- 
ticated, and  of  the  half-charred  bones  of  women  and 
children  found  at  Chauvaux  in  Belgium,  at  Sourdes 
Aruas,  Bruniquel,  and  elsewhere,  of  the  human  bones 
split  in  the  same  way  as  those  of  animals,  is  it  unreason- 
able to  admit  that  the  tribes  who  dwelt  in  Eurojie  in  the 
stone  age  were  sometimes  at  least  cannibals,  and  that 
they  sacrificed  human  victims  on  the  tombs  of  their  chiefs 
or  of  their  gods  ? 

16 


3.')0  PRIMITIVE  CI\^LISATION. 

IV.     TRANSFOBMATION    OF    HUMAN    SACRIFICE    INTO 
MODERN  RELIGIOUS  DOGMA. 

We  must  not  conclude  our  remarks  upon  cannibalism 
and  human  sacrifice  without  mentioning  the  theories  put 
f(jrward  upon  this  subject  at  the  Prehistoric  Congress 
of  ]3ologna  by  one  of  the  most  famous  representatives  of 
modern  science.  M.  Carl  Vogt  starts,  it  is  true,  from  the 
doubtful  principle  that  all  religion  is  the  daughter  of  fear 
and  ignorance,  and  consists  in  the  adoration  of  the  un- 
known ;  this  unknown,  that  is  Grod  himself,  being  nothing 
but  a  superlative  of  which  the  positive  is  man.  He  con- 
siders cannibalism  and  human  sacrifice,  which  is  its 
logical  consequence,  to  be  a  universal  fact,  a  necessary 
phase  in  the  development  of  civilisation  ;  nay,  far  more, 
the  indication  of  a  comparatively  advanced  stage  in  this 
civilisation. 

Cannibalism,  he  says,  unknown  to  our  prehistoric  an- 
cestors of  the  age  of  the  mammoth  and  reindeer,  becomes 
frequent  towards  the  end  of  the  neolithic  period.  From 
that  time  forward  we  everywhere  find  incontestable  proofs 
of  it,  and  also  of  human  sacrifice,  then  at  least  as  common 
as  it  was  later  among  the  more  civilised  nations  (Jews, 
Egyptians,  Greeks,  Komans,  Gauls,  &c.),  and  in  om-  own 
day  among  tribes  who  still  remain  in  a  barbarous 
state.  But  what  were  the  causes  and  the  purpose  of 
these  atrocious  customs  ?  Fruit-eating  by  nature,  like 
the  anthropomorphic  apes,  and  even  Insectivorous  like 
the  inferior  Quadrumana,  man  only  became  omnivorous 
at  a  comparatively  advanced  stage  in  his  development. 
Still  less  was  he  originally  cannibal.  Hunger,  the  desire 
of  vengeance,  superstition  abcve  all,  are  the  real  sources 
of  this  custom.  The  cannibal  savage  imagines  that  the 
human  body  and  soul  form  an  inseparable  whole  after,  as 
well  as  during,  life.  Every  part  of  the  body  of  man,  and 
even  of  animals,  has  its  proper  function  and  special 
qualiti<'s.  Tlius  the  heart  is  the  seat  of  courage  and  war- 
like valour.     In  the  eye  reside  wisdom  and  perspicacity,^ 

•  Qiicon  Poraaro,  before  holding  the  sceptre,  bore  the  name  of  Aimata^ 
or  Eyc-eutcr. 


CANNICALISM   AND    RELIGIOUS   DOGMA.  361 

as  manliness  in  the  reproductive  organs,  and  life  in  the 
blood.  The  flesh  of  the  stag  gives  agility,  that  of  the 
bison  extraordinary  strength.  These  inherent  qualities 
of  certain  organs  may  then  pass  into  the  body  and  mind 
of  him  who  feeds  upon  them,  who  absorbs  and  incorporates 
them.  jNIoreover,  by  devouring  the  object  of  his  revenge, 
by  eating  the  enemy  killed  in  the  battle-field,  the  con- 
queror assimilates  completely  the  body  and  soul  of  the 
conquered. 

The  right  of  feeding  upon  human  flesh  thus  naturally 
became  the  privilege  of  the  bravest  of  the  conquerors,  of 
the  chief  of  the  tribe.  Now,  as  among  savages  the  gods 
are  merely  the  highest  chiefs,  they  came  gradually  and 
Logically  to  offering  the  divinity,  whatever  he  may  be, 
all  that  they  believed  most  proper  to  win  his  favour  or 
appease  his  wrath.  Hence  arose  human  sacrifices,  the 
immolation  of  virgins,  slaves,  children,  prisoners  of  war  ; 
and  as  the  idea  of  expiation  is  often  allied  to  that  of 
sacrifice,  the  chosen  victim  must  be  the  more  perfect; 
and  the  more  precious,  the  greater  the  fiiult  to  be  ex- 
piated. 

Little  by  little  the  religious  idea  becomes  purer,  and 
from  real  the  sacrifice  becomes  merely  symbolic.  Such 
is,  for  instance,  the  Sacrament  of  the  Christians,  whose 
parallel  M.  Yogt  and  Prof.  Fritz,  of  Marbourg,  find  in 
certain  sacrifices  in  use  among  the  ancient  Mexicans 
at  the  feast  of  their  god  Huitzilipochtli.  The  words  of 
Jesus  himself  are,  '  He  who  eats  my  flesh  and  drinks 
my  blood  lives  in  me,  and  I  in  him.'  '  We  see,'  says  M. 
C.  Vogt,  '  these  words  are  entirely  based  upon  the  idea, 
which  is  still  in  favour  among  the  Jews,  that  the  life  is 
in  the  blood,  and  that  by  absorbing  the  flesh  and  blood  of 
any  one  the  life  of  the  person  passes  into  the  feeder. 
We  must  then  absolutely  feed  upon  the  flesh  and  blood  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  that  his  innocence  may  pass  into  us, 
and  our  sin  into  him.  But  this  is  but  one  view  of  the 
Sacrament.'  We  leave  our  readers  to  judge  of  these 
theories ;  though  we  doubt  whether  many  will  agree  with 
them,  especially  Catholic  theologians. 


So2  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

THE  PORTRAIT  OF  QUATERNARY  MAN. 

We  share  the  opinion  of  MM.  de  Quatrefages,  Ed.  Lartet, 
&c.,  that  man  of  the  diluvium,  of  the  valleys,  or  of  the 
ossiferous  caves  is  prehistoric,  but  not  primitive  man.  In 
spite  of  the  numerous  fancy  sketches  which  have  been 
made  of  him,  primitive  man,  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
words,  remains  hitherto  absolutely  unknown  to  us.  As 
to  the  carver  of  the  axes  of  Saint  Acheul  and  the  knives 
of  Aurignac,  the  records  concerning  him  are  still  unfor- 
tunately very  incomplete.  A  few  skulls  more  or  less 
broken  and  crushed,  a  few  bones  more  or  less  perfect, 
are  the  only  data  upon  which,  in  the  present  state  of 
science,  we  can  found  a  description  worthy  of  any  con- 
fidence whatever. 

PJiysical  Type. — -We  are  a  little  better  informed  with 
regard  to  the  anatomical  character  of  man  of  the  rein- 
deer and  neolithic  ages ;  but  many  important  data  are 
still  wanting,  and  many  errors  have  been  committed,  even 
by  those  who  are  best  informed.  Thus  it  was  at  first 
asserted  that  the  dwellers  in  caves  were  of  short,  or,  at 
most,  of  medium  stature  ;  that  they  were  brachycephalous, 
and  that  their  low  and  retreating  foreheads  were  furnished 
witli  prominent  overhanging  brows ;  that  their  face  was 
markedly  prognathous  and  almost  deprived  of  chin,  &c. 
But  it  is  quite  possible  that  all  these  characters  were  in- 
dividual, mere  varieties  of  an  unknown  specific  type.  It 
appears  to  be  now  proved,  as  we  have  mentioned  before,  that 
tlie  dolichocephalous  type  preceded  the  brachycephalous, 
or  at  least  predominated  at  first — if,  however,  it  is  allow- 
able or  prudent  to  draw  conclusions  from  such  insuflicient 


ANATOMY   OF   liUATKRXARY   MAX. 


353 


data.  For  the  rest,  the  skull  of  the  Olirio  may  be  advan- 
tageously compared  with  those  of  Eguisheim  and  Nean- 
derthal, with  which  it  is  nearly  contemporary.  <  It  is  a 
fine  skull,'  says  ^\)gt  himself.  Still  finer  were  the  skulls 
of  the  reindeer  hunters  of  Perigord  (fig.  148),  who  were 
of  great  height,  athletic,  with  a  strongly-built  skeleton, 
with  i)illared  lemurs,  platycnemic  tibias,  channelled  fibulas 
(fig.  145,  14(),  147)  and  humerus,  of  which  the  olecra- 
nian  cavity  is  often  perforated;  anatomical  peculiarities 


Figs.  145,  14G,  147. — c.  Flattenpd  libica  of  an  old  man  of  Cro-Magnon. 
D.  Femur  of  the  same,  seen  in  profile,     e.  FibuJa  of  the  same. 


which  recur  both  before  and  after  the  reindeer  age,  until 
towards  the  end  of  the  neolithic  period,  and  even  in  our  own 
days.  With  regard  to  the  colour  of  the  hair,  while  Haeckel 
says  it  was  black  and  woolly,  M.  de  Quatrefages  believes 
he  has  good  reason  for  thinking  it  was  red,  and  that  the 
skin,  instead  of  being  black  or  brown,  as  the  German  author 
supposes,  was  very  similar  in  colour  to  that  of  the  present 
Mongol  races.  But  how  is  it  possible,  in  the  absence  of 
the  hair  and  skin,  to  judge  of  the  shade  of  complexion,  so 


354 


PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION. 


variable,  moreover,  in  one  and  the  same  race  ?  The  Hindu 
women,  who  undoubtedly  belong  to  the  so-called  white 
race,  are  brown-skinned.  How  can  we  tell,  having  never 
seen  them,  that  the  transverse  section  of  the  hairs  of  so- 
called  primitive  man  was  round  or  elliptical,  their  colour 
red  or  black  ? 

Manners  and  Customs. — The  above  details  prove  that 
European  man  formerly,  and  for  a  considerable  period, 


l-u 


148.— Skull  of  an  old  man  of  Cro-M.ignon. 


dwelt  in  caves,  or  even  in  mere  sheltered  places  among  the 
rocks,  such  as  la  ^ladelaine,  Bruniquel,  and  Cro-lMagnon. 
This  was  his  miserable  home ;  here  he  took  his  meals,  and 
Jil lowed  the  remains  of  his  food,  uninviting  to  our  fas- 
tidious i)alates,  to  collect.  The  flesh  of  the  mammoth, 
of  the  great  cave  bear,  of  the  amphibious  rhinoceros,  of 
the  horse,  the  aurochs,  the  reindeer,  the  fox,  and,  doubtless, 
also  wild  fruits  and  roots,  formed  his  staple  diet.  Usually 
the  flesh  of  the  animals  was  eaten  raw  ;  but  fire  had  long 
been  known,  iind  even  pottery  had  been  invented, and  was 


MANNERS   AND   CUSTOMS.  355 

used  for  culinary  purposes.  Hunting  was  his  principal 
occupation.  Armed  with  the  stone  axe,  or  mace,  Avith 
the  tiint-headed  hmce,  javelin,  or  arrow,  he  boldly  attacked 
the  animals,  often  of  colossal  size,  which  then  peopled  our 
lands,  and  of  which  many  have  long  since  disappeared. 
He  clothed  himself  in  their  skins,  which  he  had  early 
learnt  to  smooth  with  the  scraper,  to  soften  and  prei)are 
with  fat  or  marrow,  and  later  by  means  of  a  stone  polisher. 
During  the  reindeer  age  the  booty  obtained  by  fishing  with 
a  barbed  harpoon  (for  the  net  was  not  then  invented) 
added  its  contingent  to  his  daily  food.  The  shooting  of 
birds  was  likewise  no  longer  neglected.  The  bones  and 
teeth  of  the  reindeer  and  of  contemporary  animals  were 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  weapons  and  tools  of  every 
kind,  and  even  articles  of  luxury  and  ornament.  The  arts 
of  design  were  born  ;  and  the  reindeer  hunters  of  Perigord 
and  the  bear  hunters  of  the  Pyrenees  employed  their 
leisure  hours,  now  become  less  rare,  in  carving  their 
weapons,  and  in  drawing  or  engraving  on  wood,  bone,  and 
ivory  the  figures  of  the  animals  they  had  before  their  eyes, 
and  even  their  own  image. 

However,  the  horrors  of  war  already  raged  among 
them ;  might  oppressed  right  and  crushed  the  weak.  \N'e 
see  the  proof  in  the  serious  wounds  observed  upon  the 
wea}X)ns  of  the  Danish  warriors  of  the  age  of  stone,  and, 
perhaps,  even  upon  the  skulls  of  defenceless  women. 
(Skull  of  Cro-Magnon.) 

We  gather  from  several  indications  that  in  certain 
cases,  at  least,  they  practised  cannibalism.  Some  authors 
maintain  that  this  custom,  and  that  of  human  sacrifice, 
were  widely  spread  among  the  troglodytes  of  the  stone  age. 
Others,  on  the  contrary,  endeavour  to  absolve  our  ances- 
tors from  the  crime  of  which  the  proofs  appear  to  us  in 
many  cases  overwhelming. 

The  bone  needle  was  invented,  and  the  curious  speci- 
mens found  in  the  caves  of  Dordogne,  of  England,  and 
of  Belgium,  prove  that,  from  this  remote  epoch,  the 
women,  and  probably  the  men  also,  knew  how  to  sew  the 
clothing  they  wore.     Tendons   split  into  fine  filaments, 


356  PRIMITIVE   CIVILISATION". 

bark  fibre,  and  later  textile  plants  furnished  the  sewing 
thread. 

All  these  customs,  cannibalism  and  human  sacrifice 
excepted,  resemble  those  of  the  Eskimos,  of  the  Green- 
landers,  and  especially  of  the  Siberian  Tshouktschis,  who, 
hardly  a  century  ago,  still  dwelt  in  caves,  whose  entrance 
they  closed  with  reindeer  skins,  ignoring  the  use  of  metals, 
and  employing  sharp  stones,  bone  fish-hooks,  pikes  armed 
with  pointed  bones,  and  utensils  of  wood  or  leather.^  The 
women  used  the  split  tendons  of  quadrupeds  and  needles 
of  fish-bone  to  sew  their  clothing  of  skins.  We  have  seen 
that  the  troglodytes  of  Perigord  employed  delicate  per- 
forated bone  needles  for  the  same  j)urpose.  The  family 
and  the  society  were  also  organised  among  the  latter,  even 
in  the  reindeer  age.  If  we  accept  the  explanation  given 
by  Edward  Lartet,  of  the  ornamented  and  perforated 
instruments  which  he  calls  wands  of  office,  and  if  we 
consider  with  him  that  the  number  of  holes  indicates  the 
various  degrees  of  authority,  there  were  already  chiefs  and 
subjects. 

After  having  sheltered  the  living,  the  caves  became 
the  last  resting-place  of  the  dead.  With  them  were 
buried  the  weapons,  the  ornaments,  the  articles  of  every 
kind  which  they  had  used  during  their  life  on  earth,  and 
which  they  were  to  employ  in  that  other  life  of  which 
even  the  dweller  in  the  caves  seems  to  have  had  a  vague 
presentiment.  For  the  rest,  he  had  a  barely  rudimentary 
notion  of  the  divinity,  a  rude  fetichism,  some  absmxl 
superstitions;  but  no  religion  worthy  of  the  name,  no 
idiom,  of  which  any  remains,  however  mutilated,  have 
come  down  to  us. 

With  regard  to  the  troglodytes  who,  during  the  age  of 
])olished  stone,  dwelt  in  the  Pyrenean  caves  of  Ariege, 
tliey  undoubtedly  liad  attained  to  a  degree  of  civilisation 
far  more  advanced  than  that  at  which  the  inhabitants 
of  the  caves,  of  the  age  of  the  mammoth  and  reindeer, 
cjime  to  a  stand. 

»  S<>o  tlio  inforosHnu-  dctjiils  upon  this  subject  c-ivon  by  M.  L   Lartet 
in  lii.s  paper  up  .11  L  i,c  Scj/ultnre  r/c.v  A/iinnni.'c  TrixjUxlijic's  dcs  Pyrenees. 


SOCIAL   AND  DOMESTIC   LIVE.  357 

Their  stone  tools  and  weapons  are  polislicd  with  great 
care,  but  work  in  bone  had  made  no  great  progress ;  it 
may  even  be  said  to  have  retrograded,  since  we  no  longer 
lind  those  engraved  drawings,  those  carvings  whose  com- 
parative perfection  is  a  subject  for  surprise  in  the  second 
half  of  the  reindeer  age.  Pottery  exists,  but  the  wheel  is 
not  yet  invented.  Like  the  inhabitants  of  the  Swiss  lake 
dwellings,  with  whom  they  were  contemporary,  the  trog- 
lodytes of  Ariege  had  domesticated  the  dog,  the  pig, 
the  ox,  the  goat,  and  the  sheep.  These  ruminants  not 
only  fm-nished  them  with  meat,  but  also  an  abundance 
of  milk,  and  probably  also  butter  and  milk. 

A  favourite  food  was  the  Helix  nemoralis,  of  which 
the  shells  are  found  in  heaps  at  Niaux,  Bedeillac,  and 
elsewhere.  Shooting  with  the  bow  and  arrow  procured 
them  abundance  of  game  (the  wild  goat  and  blackcock); 
nuts,  sloes,  and  wild  cherries  were  part  of  their  diet,  with 
strawberries,  raspberries,  and  chestnuts.  They  drank 
nothing  but  pure  spring  water  from  cups  of  ox  or  aurochs 
horn,  or  the  hollow  antlers  of  the  stag. 

Like  their  predecessors  of  the  epoch  of  the  bear  and 
reindeer,  they  clothed  themselves  in  the  skins  of  animals 
killed  in  the  chase,  or  kept  in  a  domestic  condition. 
Weights  for  stretching  the  weaver's  loom,  and  spindles 
found  at  Ussat  and  at  Niaux,  seem  to  show  that  the  arts 
of  weaving  and  spinning  were  not  unknown  to  them.  In 
brief,  their  simple  customs  offer  a  close  resemblance  to 
those  of  the  earliest  lake  dwellers. 

No  cereals  or  wheaten  bread  have  been  found  among 
them.  Nevertheless,  MM.  Garrigou  and  Filhol  are  in- 
clined to  think  that  they  knew  something  of  agriculture, 
since  they  have  discovered  millstones  of  granite,  syenite, 
and  other  hard  rocks ;  but  they  had  nothing  but  stone 
hoes  or  picks  of  stag's  horn  for  ploughing  the  soil.  M^L 
GaiTigou  and  Filhol  avow  complete  ignorance  with  regard 
to  the  burial  rites  and  religious  ceremonies  of  the  pre- 
historic tribes  of  the  Tarascon  valley. 

The  man  who  has  left  incontestable  traces  of  his 
existence  in   the   most  ancient   (|uaternary  beds  (and   a 


3o8  PRIMITIVE  CIVILISATION. 

fortiori  in  those  of  the  reindeer  age),  although  inferior  in 
many  respects  to  the  man  of  our  own  day,  nevertheless 
resembled  him  in  all  essential  points.  In  spite  of  his 
savage  manners,  and  the  barbarity  of  some  of  his  customs 
(cannibalism  and  human  sacrifice),  he  was  man  in  all 
senses  of  the  word — anatomically,  intellectually,  and 
morally. 


INDEX. 


ABB 

A  BBEVILLE,  the   splintered 

■^-^  fliuts  of,  i)o  ;  ridicules  and 
conjectures  concerning,  37 ; 
congress  of  savants  at,  45 

Agriculture,  primitive,  252 

Alcohol,  early  use  of,  205 

America,  antiquity  of  human 
race  in,  1G2 ;  primitive  art  of, 
163  ;  pottery  of  tombs  in,  305 

Amulets,  discovery  of,  334  ; 
cranial,  335 

Andaman  Islanders,  religious 
ideas  of,  329 

Animals,  domestication  of,  256  ; 
invertebrate,  non-domestica- 
tion of,  274;  geological  anti- 
quity of,  274  ;  origin  of  do- 
mestic, 275  ;  drawings  of,  291 ; 
religious  homage  to,  333 

Anthropomorphism,  332 

Antiquitv  of  human  race,  proofs 
of,  182 

Arani,  Aryan  religious  symbols, 
190 

Arcadians,  the  boasted  antiquity 
of,  181 

Ari^ge,  human  chronology  in 
valley  of,  60 

Arrow-tlakers,  213 

Arrow  heads,  stone.  Red  Indians' 
mode  of  making,  211  ;  as  a 
protection  against  lightning, 
218  ;  Irish,  224 

Arts  ot  design  in  caves,  287;  list 
of,  301 ;  to  whom  they  belong, 
302 


BON 

Ass,  origin  of  the,  266 
Aurignac,  burial   cave  of,  134  ; 

worship  of  dead  in,  340 
Australian   legend   of  origin  of 

fire,  195 
Australians,  their  persistent  use 

of  stone  tools,  23 
Auvernier,  burial  cave  of,  117 
Axes,  stone,  24  0 ;  perforat  ed,  243  ; 

hammer,     2-15  ;     chip,     245  ; 

throwing,  245 
Aymard,   his   discoveries  at   La 

Denise,  175 
Aztecs,  their  method  of  making 

obsidian  razors,  212 


"DARROWS,     description     of 

-^     the,  148 

Basque  tongue,  age  and  use  of 
the,  316 

Baume-des-Morts,  burial  cave  of, 
139 

Beverages  of  primitive  man,  205 

Bible  and  science,  Lenormant  on, 
185 

Biblical  chronology,  non-exist- 
ence of,  3,  185 

Birds,  recently  extinct,  73 ;  non- 
domestication  of  primitive,  274 

Bize,  the  cave  of,  human  remains 
in,  48 ;  the  date  of,  49;  cited 
in  support  of  great  antiquity 
of  man,  49 

Bolivia,  chulpas  of,  165 

Bone   caves,  description  of  the, 


360 


INI>EX. 


BOU 

53 ;  the  various  contents  of 
the,  55 ;  suppositions  as  to 
how  they  were  filled,  50 ; 
accidental  disturbances  in,  57  ; 
iii^e  of  the,  59;  divided  into 
tive  groups,  65  ;  inhabitants 
of,  71 ;  mammalia  of  French, 
76  ;  bones  of  wounded  animals 
in,  78  ;  entire  human  skeletons 
in,  81  ;  arts  of  design  in,  287 

Boucher  de  Pertlies,  his  re- 
searches as  to  the  flints,  36  ; 
indifference  concerning  his 
•works,  40;  his  discovery  of 
the  jawbone,  42 

Bourgeois,  Abb6,  discovery  of 
carved  Hints  by,  177  ;  on  meio- 
cene  man,  186 ;  on  early  use 
of  Hre,  195 

Trahmins,  their  mode  of  kindling 
The  sacred  tire,  192 

Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  Abbe, 
on  antiquity  of  New  World, 
186 

Broad,  earliest  use  of,  201 

r>ri(lgman,  Laura,  328 

Brixham,  cave  of,  commission  to 
explore  the,  52;  refuse  heaps 
in, 104 

Broca,  prehistoric  chronology  by, 
28 ;  division  of  quaternary 
epoch  by,  68 

Bronze  age.  22  ;  duration  of,  25  ; 
and  the  Danish  peat  mosses,  93 

Buckland,  Dr.,  opinion  of,  that 
man  was  not  contemporary 
with  extinct  species.  52 

BufTon's  theory  of  flints,  35 

liurgh  of  Moussa,  128 

Burial,  various  modes  of,  '30 
grounds,  age  of  the,  135 
caves,  134  ;  contents  of,  140 
errors  as  to  age  of,  142 


"CALUMET  j.ipes,  172 
■^  Cannil)ali.sin,  primitive,  200, 
341  ;  causes  of,  343;  in  the 
Vili  Isl.-inds,  344  ;  Voltaire  on, 
348;  theories  of,  350;  and 
religious  dogma,  351 


DES 

Canoes,  primitive,  28 

Cat,  origin  of,  271 

Catholic  Church,  recognition  of 

science  by,  4,  186  ;  and  ancient 

customs  as  to  flints,  219 
Cave  of  the  Fairies,  successive 

ages  in,  60 
Caves.     See  Bone  Cares 
Cavillon,  entire  skeleton   found 

in  cave  of,  83 
Cerannice,  superstitious  uses  of 

217 
Cereals,     primitive     cultivation 

of,  254 
Chinese  writing,  324 
Chisels,  stone,  246 
Christol,  M.  de,  his  researches  in 

the  bone  caves  at  Card,  49 
Chronology,   and    the    Bible,    3, 

185  ;  of  the  epochs,  15,  30 
Chulpas   of   Peru    and    Bolivia, 

165  ;  formation  of,  166 
Clothing,  manufacture  of,    206, 

249 
Coal,    leaf-marked,   96 ;    plants 

found  in,  96 ;    animals  found 

in,  97 
Colouring  matter,  haematite  as, 

303 
Commerce,  primitive,  284 
Conyers,  early  discovery  of  stone 

weapons  by,  42 
Cookery  of  quaternary  man,  198 
Corpse,  various  positions  of  the, 

132 
Counting  sticks,  233 
Cranial  amulets,  335 
Crannoges,    lake    dwellings  re- 
semble Irish,  124 
Cremation  practised,  131 
Cromlechs,  150 


■p) AGGERS,  flint,  228 

-"-^     Danish,  peat  mosses,  91 , 

shell  mounds,  98 
Darwin    and    domestication   of 

animals,  259 
Deity,  first  conception  of  a,  329 
Desnoyers,    discovery   of   bones 

by, 176 


INDEX. 


3()1 


DIL 

Diluvian  or  quaternary  rocks, 
composition  of  the,  11 ;  de- 
posits in,  15 ;  chronological 
table  of,  16;  fauna  of,  71 ;  man 
contemporary  with  extinct 
species  of,  184 

Diluvium  of  the  valleys,  14 

Diseases,  sacred,  ;-i.")o 

Divinity,  ideas  of,  329 

Dog-,  early  domestication  of,  257  ; 
original  stock  of,  202  ;  biblical 
mention  of,  263 

Dolmens,  position  of  corpse  in, 
133,  151  ;  other  names  for, 
145;  varieties  of,  147  ;  position 
of  the,  150  ;  contents  of,  152  ; 
builders  of  the,  154 

Domestic  animals,  origin  and 
home  of,  260 

Drift,  composition  of,  14 

Drills,  tire,  191;  thong,  193; 
bow,  194;  pump,  194;  stone, 
23(5 ;  bone,  236  ;  transverse- 
edged,  247 

Dupont,  classification  of  bone 
caves  by,  59 

Duruthy,  burial  cave  of,  29,  138  ; 
contents  of,  139 


'Lji  ARTH,  geologists'  opinion  of 
-^     original  condition  of  the,  9 ; 

successive  phases  of    life  on 

the,  10 
Egyptian,  monuments,  antiquity 

of  man  proved  by,  30;  art,  31 
England,  tauna  of  caves  of,  76 
Engraving,  prehistoric,  293 
Esquimaux  implements,  213 
Evans,  on  carved  implements,213 


"CpABRE,  Abbe,  and  primitive 

-^      man,  186 

Fauna,  quaternary,  71 ;  resembles 
modern,  76 ;  of  the  French 
raves,  76  ;  of  the  English  caves, 
76 ;  of  the  cave  of  Kessler- 
loch,  78  ;  of  Swiss  lake  dwell- 
ings, 119 

Fetichism,  332 


UAM 

Fiji  Islanders,  modern  pottery 
of,  305 

Fire,  origin  of  the  use  of,  1 88 ; 
rromethean  f.tble  of,  189 ; 
methods  of  obtaining,  191  ; 
balls,  232 ;  Australian  legend 
of  origin  of,  195 

Fishes,  non-domestication  of,  274 

Fish-hooks,  234 

Fishing  nets,  233 

Flints,  IJulfon's  theory  of,  35  ; 
religious  uses  of,  217  ;  various 
names  given  to,  5,  217;  super- 
stitions as  to,  218;  of  Abbe- 
ville, ridicules  and  conjectures 
concerning  the,  37 

Floraof  Swiss  lake  dwellings,  120 

Flutes  of  reindeer  age,  304 

Food  of  prehistoric  man,  198; 
modes  of  cooking,  203 

Fort  of  Staigue,  129 

Fossil,  meaning  of  the  word  as 
applied  to  man,  16 ;  as  applied 
to  other  organised  beings,  17  ; 
bones,  chemical  composition 
of,  89 

France,  fauna  of  caves  of,  76 

Frere,  John,  discovery  of  Hint 
tools  by,  42 

Fruits,  primitive  edible,  254 

/^ARRIGOU,  classification    of 
^-^      bone  caves  by,  63 
Gaudry,  opinion  of,  as  to  man  in 

meioceue  epoch,  179 
Gautier,      on     ornaments      and 

jewels,  207 
Gavr'  Innis,  burial  vault  of,  148 
Giant  tombs  of  Sardinia,  159 
Glacial  period,  formation  of,  12; 

erratic  phenomena  in,  13;  man 

contemporary  with,  98 
Goat,  early  domestication  of,  269 
Gouges,  246 
Greek  and  Roman  reverence  for 

stone  arrow  heads,  218 


H 


.?<:MATTTE,  early  use  of,  303 
Hammer,  early  use  ol  the, 


237 


3G2 


INDEX. 


HAM 

Hamy,    classification    of     bone 

caves  by,  65 
Handiiiills  of  neolithic  age,  201 ; 

of  Swiss  lakes,  248 
Harpoons,    wooden,    228;   bone, 

Heer,  plants  found  by,  in  peat 
bogs,  97  ;  list  of  flora  in  Swiss 
lakes  by,  120  ;  and  origin  of 
cultivated  plants,  277 

Hieroglyphic  writing,  825 

His,  lake  dwellers  classified  by, 
118 

Hohefels,  cave  of,  62 

Horse,  origin  of  the,  264  ;  domes- 
tication of,  265  ;  discovery  of 
remains  of,  275 

Human,  race,  antiquity  of,  in 
America,  162;  proofs  of  an- 
ti(iuity,  182  ;  remains,  earliest 
discovery  of,  48 ;  skeletons 
found  in  caves,  81 ;  in  volcano 
of  La  Denise,  175 ;  sacrifices, 
modern,  344,  347 

Hunting  markers,  233 


TMMORTALITY  of   the  soul, 
-L     335 

lmf)lements,  method  in  making 

stone,    2 11  ;    resemblance    of, 

of  various  ages,  216;  hunting. 

229  ;  fishing,  233 ;  agricultural, 

255 
Indian  mode  of  making  stone 

arrow  heads,  211 
Irish,   bogs,   remains   found   in, 

94  ;  tinkers,  their  recent  use  of 

stone  tools,  24;  arrow  heads, 

224 
Iron   age,  22;  duration  of,   25; 

epoch  of  the  beech  belongs  to, 

93 
Ish;  uf  Roses,  125 


TAWBONKofMoulin-Q.iignon, 

J(^wels.  use  of,  'J()7 

Joly,  his  liist  endeavour  foclaiin 


L  HE 

man  as  contemporary  with  the 
cave  bears,  50 


"TT' ENT'S  cavern,  52;  inhabited 
-*-^     at  different  epochs,  6 1 
Keramic,  etymology  of  word,  305 
Kesslerloch,  fauna  of  the  cave  of, 
78 ;   early  carvings  found  in, 
294 
Khonds,  the,  and  human  sacri- 
fices, 348 
Kitchen  middens,  skulls  of  stags 
in,   80 ;    composition   of,    98  ; 
zoological   value   of,   99 ;    the 
age  of  the,   101 ;  axe  of  the, 
102 ;    refuse   heaps    of   other 
parts  of  the  world,  104 
Knives,  flint,  238 


T  A  Denise,  human  remains  in 

-*— '     volcano  of,  175 

Lake  dwellings,  of  Switzerland, 
105 ;  contents  of,  106  ;  con- 
struction of  the,  107 ;  motive 
of  building,  lOS ;  age  of  the, 
108;  inhabitants  of  the,  110, 
117  ;  of  other  countries,  115  ; 
fauna  of,  119;  flora  of,  120; 
description  of  ancient,  122  ; 
modern  constructions  similar 
to,  123 

La  Marne,  burial  caves  of,  141 

Lance-heads,  225 

Language,  Vogt's  theory  of,  313  ; 
ancient,  315  ;  centres  of,  317  ; 
stages  of,  318  ;  growth  of,  319 

Lartet  and  biblical  chronology, 
4 ;  the  value  of  his  works  on 
bone  caves,  52  ;  palreontologic 
chronology  of  bone  caves,  59 ; 
on  cave  of  Aurignac,  135  ;  on 
antiquity  of  man,  187  ;  on 
flesh  of  hare  as  food,  200 

Jja  Vache,  age  of  cave  of,  60 

Lenormant  on  the  Bible  and 
science,  184 

L'llerm,  burial  cave  of,  135 ; 
comparatively  recent  date  o^ 
144  ;  reli_ious  use  of,  diO 


INDEX. 


3G3 


LON 

Lont^  TIolo,  Glamorganshire,  dis- 
coveries in  the  cave  of,  52 
Lounies,  cave  of,  age  of  the,  60 
Lyell,  division  by,  of  the  tertiary 
period,  9 ;  convinced  of  man 
being  contemporary  with  ex- 
tinct animals,  50 


IV  rALTESE  cross,  the,  339 

^^-^     Matietho  and  his  lists,  30 

Mammalia  of  the  quaternary 
epoch,  71 

Marcel  de  Serres,  his  essaj^s  on 
the  bone  caves,  51 

Mariette,  his  exhibition  of 
EgA'ptian  excavations,  31 

Maro,  ceremony  of  the,  34-1 

Mas  d'Azil.  age  of  cave  of,  60 

Massenat,  description  of  an  early 
engraving  by,  297 

Mainover,  imposition  of,  181 

Meiocene,  flints,  177  ;  man,  Abbe 
Bourgeois  on,  186 

Menhirs,  description  of,  145 ; 
where  found,  146 

Mentone,  skeletons  found  at,  S3 

Mineralogic  chronology  of  pre- 
historic ages,  26 

Monoliths,  position  of  the,  161 

Mortars,  stone,  248 

Mortillet,  chronolog}-  of  the  pre- 
historic ages  by,  26  ;  classifi- 
cation of  cave  implements  by, 
63;  dolmen  builders  disputed 
by,  157;  opinion  as  to  flints 
of  Thenay  by,  178 

Moulin-Quignon,  discovery  of 
the  jawbone  at,  42  ;  decision 
of  congress  at,  respecting  the 
axes  and  jawbone,  44 ;  dis- 
covery of  more  human  bones 
at,  45 

Mounds,  166;  purposes  of,  167; 
dimensions  of,  167  ;  contents 
of,  168;  symbolical,  168; 
funeral,  169;  sacriticial.  170; 
builders  of  uncertain,  173 

Music,  prehistoric,  303 

Myth  and  the  original  inhabit- 
ants of  the  eailh,  19 


PIC 

Myth   and  modern  facts,  igree- 
ment  of,  19 


ISJ'AVIGATION,     earliest     at- 

-'-^  tempts  at,  280  ;  ancient 
and  modern,  283 

Necklaces,  208 

Needles,  primitive,  250 

Neolithic  age,  handmills  of,  201 

New,  Caledonians,  use  of  iron 
implements  by,  23;  World, 
age  of  the,  163  ;  Abbe  Bras- 
senr  de  Bourbourg  on,  186 

Nilsson  and  fishing  implements, 
234 

Noulet,  Dr.,  and  the  cave  of 
I'Herm,  135,  142 

Nuraghi  of  Sardinia,  125;  con- 
tents of,  127  ;  builders  of  the, 
128  ;  religious  uses  of,  334 


QRXAMENTS  and  jewels,  207 

^^  Osseous  breccia,  compo- 
sition of,  15 

Ossiferous  sediment,  implements 
found  in,  77 

Ox,  European  origin  of  the,  268 


T)AINTIXG  and  men  of  rein- 

-*-       deer  age,  303 

Palaeolithic  and  neolithic  ages, 
question  as  to  interval  be- 
tween, 29 

Paris,  peat  mosses  near,  95 

Peat,  preserving  property  of, 
114  ;  mosses,  the  Danish,  91  ; 
remains  found  in,  93 ;  beads 
and  earrings  found  in,  94  ;  of 
the  Somme,  94 ;  near  P&ris, 
95  ;  of  Switzerland,  96 

Peoples,  primitive  customs  of 
modern,  23 

Perforation,  methods  of,  215 

I'»-ru,  chulpas  of,  165 

Piciirdv,  conclusion  as  to  flints 
of,  40 


3G4 


INDEX. 


PIC 

Picture  wtiting,  323 

ri<<,  origin  of,  270 

I'ipes,  stone,  found  in  mounds, 
171;  calumet,  172;  portrait, 
172 

Plants  found  in  ancient  peat 
bogs,  \)G ;  origin  of  cultivated, 
276 

Plough,  divine  origin  of  the,  252 

Plutonic  rocks,  10 

Polishing  st-nes,  214,  237 

Potter's  wheel,  date  of  the,  310 

Pottery,  manufacture  of,  301: ; 
of  American  tombs,  305  ;  frag- 
ments of,  306 ;  age  of,  307  ; 
ornamentation  of,  309 ;  vari- 
eties ot,  311 

Pramantb^,  description  of  the, 
189 

Pre- Adamites,  traces  of,  186 

Pjometheus,  origin  of  the  name, 
189 

Purgatory  hammers,  218 


QUATERNARY  epoch,  pre- 
historic chronology  of,  28  ; 
division  of  by  Broca,  68;  tire 
known  in,  196 ;  food  of  man 
of,  200 ;  anatomy  of  man  of, 
352 ;  manners  and  customs 
of  man  of,  354 
Quaternary  rocks.  See  Dilnvian 
Qiiatri'fages  and  domestication 
of  animals,  274  ;  on  religious 
ideas  of  humanity,  331 


"O  AP.RIT  and  hare,  origin  of, 

-'-*'  272;  considered  unclean, 
272 

Razors,  Aztec  mode  of  making 
obsidian,  212 

Rciiidror,  domostination  of,  273  ; 
an  t-arlv  inhabitant  of  Switzer- 
land, 294 

Ktligious  ideas  of  primitive  man, 
327  ;  of  Andaman  Islanders, 
329;  in  other  parts  of  the. 
world,  330 


STC 

Reptiles,    not    domesticated    in 

primitive  ages,  274 
Rigollot,    Dr.,   and    the    Saint- 

Acheul  tlints,  41 
Rocks,  determination  of  relative 

age  of,  10 


SAINT-JEAN-D'ALCAS,burlal 
cave  of,  139 

Saint  Prest,  striated  bones  of 
elephant  of,  176 

Salt,  uses  and  value  of,  202 

Sardinia,  giant  tombs  of,  159  ; 
description  of  the,  160 

Saws,  flint,  214;  hand,  247 

Scandinavian  art,  prehistoric, 
296 

Scheuchzer,  fraud  of,  181 

Schmerling,  Dr.,  bis*explorations 
of  the  caves  of  Belgium,  50 

Scrapers,  246 

Sculpture,  early  origin  of,  293 

Secondary  epoch,  birds  and  mam- 
malia rare  in  beds  of,  10 

Sepultm-e,  various  modes-of,  130 

Sesi,  128 

Sewing,  early  knowledge  of,  249 

Sheep,  origin  of,  269 

Shell  mounds,  the  Danish,  98 

Skeletons,  human,  only  speci- 
mens found  of,  82 

Skulls,  trepanned  human,  87 ; 
of  quaternary  man,  353 

Slinging  stones,  230 

Sologne,  age  of  the  caves  of,  60 

Solutre,  burial  cave  of,  136 ;  mode 
of  sepulture  in,  137 

Somme,  peat  mosses  of  the,  94 

Soul,  immortality  of  the,  338 

Speech,  origin  of,  312 

Spoons,  203 

Sieenstrup,  study  of  Danish  peat' 
mosses  by,  91 

Stone  age,  the  first  stage  of  civil- 
isation, 20 ;  animals  of  the, 
21 ;  duration  of,  22,  25  ;  termi- 
nation of,  93  ;  pines  contempo- 
rary with,  94  ;  implements  of, 


INDEX. 


305 


STO 

Stone   mill    nielal,    their    sinuil- 

taneous  use,  2i 
Stone-boiling,  process  of,  204: 
Stone,  implements,   methods   in 

making,  211;  of  any  age  'he 

same,     210;      hun  ing,     22'J ; 

tools,  unequal  advance  of  man 

in  abandonment  of,  23 
Stones,  superstitions  respecting, 

217  ;  slinging,  230;  polishing, 

237 
Strikers.  23G 
Swastika,  tire-creat ing  apparatus, 

190  ;  as  religious  symbols,  339 
Swiss  lake  dwellings.     »See  Lake 

Divellinfjs 


rpALATOTI,  128 

-*-      Tasmanians,   ignorance   of 

origin  of  tire  of,  194 
Teeth  of  primitive  man,  205 
Tertiary  period,  division  of,  by 

Lyell,  9  ;  man,  problem  of,  179 
Tliayngen,  cave  of,  62 ;  engraved 

horn  found  in,  293 
Thenay,  meiocene  flin's  of,  177 
Thrace  and  Swi'zerland,  analogy 

of  lake  dwellings  of,  121 
Tools,  235 

Toulouse  once  a  lake  city,  1 15 
Tournal  of  Narbonne,  discovery 

of  human  remains  by,  48 
Townsend   on   domestication   of 

dog,  '258 


WRI 

Trepanned   skulls,   HH ;     method 
of,   87  :    veneration    for,    ;;3(i  ; 
period  of  the,  338 
Trepanning,  surgical,  335 
Tylor  and  invention  (jf  lire,  191; 
on  stone-boilers,  204 


T7AL  d'Enfer,  drawings  found 

^       in  the,  299 
Valleys,  diluvium  of  the,  14 
Yezore,  race  of  the  artists  of,  .302 
Vibraye,    Marquis   de,    observa- 
tions of,  in  bone  caves,  GO 
Vine,  antiquity  of  the,  278 
Viti  Islands,  cannibalism  in,  344 
Voltaire  and  cannibalism,  348 


TT7ANDS  of  office,  230;  en- 
*  '       gravings  on,  295 

Weapons  of  war,  222 

Weaving  and  sewing,  249 

Whistles,  piimitive,  303 

Wdson,  benefits  of  fire  enume- 
rated by,  197 

Witchcraft,  bones  of  skull  a 
counteract  for,  336 

Worship  of  religious  symbols, 
334  ;  of  the  dead,  338 

Wounded  animals,  bones  of,  in 
caves,  78  ;  human  bones,  85 

Writing,  origin  of,  320;  picture, 
323 ;  Chinese,  324 ;  hiero- 
glyphic, 325  ;  age  of,  326 


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